HISTORY  OF 

INDIAN  MISSIONS 

ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST. 
OREGON,    WASHINGTON   AND    IDAHO. 


BY 

REV.  MYRON  EELLS, 
Missionary  of  the  American  Missionary  Association. 


WITH 

AN  INTRODUCTION 
BY 

REV.    G.    H.   ATKINSON,    D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
THE  AMERICAN  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  UNION, 

1 122  CHESTNUT  STREET. 
to  BIBLE  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK. 


£ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1882,  by 

THE  AMERICAN  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  UNION, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  IX  C. 


rcft  Library 


DEDICATION. 

TO  MY  FATHER, 

REV.   GUSHING    EELLS, 


The    only    surviving   ordained    Missionary    of   the    American 

Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  to 

the  Indians  of  the  North-west  Coast, 


THIS  VOLUME  IS  AFFECTIONATELY  INSCRIBED 


BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

Introduction,  by  Rev.  G.  H.  Atkinson,  D.D vii 

Preface  .,  ..xiii 


PART  I. 

HISTORY  AND  RESULTS  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 
CHAPTER  I. 

Beginning. — Early  Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  1834-1847 — of  the  American  Board  of  Commis 
sioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  1834-1852 17 

CHAPTER  II. 

Later  Missions. — Nez  Perces;  Cayuses;  Spokanes;  Yaka- 
mas 57 

CHAPTER  III. 

Later  Missions  continued. — Warm  Springs;  Puyallups;  Sko- 
komish;  Quinaielt;  Neah  Bay;  Klamath IO2 

PART  II. 

REFLEX  INFLUENCE  ON  THE  WHITES. 
CHAPTER  IV. 

Missions  and  the  Nation. — The  Possession  of  Washington 
Territory,  and  the  Government  of  Oregon  145 


vi  Contents. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Literature,  Education  and  Religion. — Printing;  Books  and 
Pamphlets;  Science;  Geography;  History;  Geology; 
Ethnology;  Language;  Natural  History  and  Meteor 
ology;  Railroad;  Willamette  University;  Whitman 
Seminary;  Other  Educational  Labors;  Temperance; 
Religion 202 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Indian  Wars.— Cayuse  war;  Yakama  war;  Nez  Perce  Mining 
trouble;  War  with  the  Snake  Indians;  Modoc  war;  War 
with  Chief  Joseph  of  the  Nez  Perces;  Bannack  war 227 

Conclusion 265 


INTRODUCTION. 


IT  is  a  pleasant  fact  that  the  son  of  a  mis 
sionary,  born  where  his  parents  long  taught  the 
Indians  by  precept  and  example,  now  writes 
the  story  of  the  work  and  its  results. 

It  adds  interest  to  the  narrative  that  he  ded 
icates  it  to  that  father,  who  yet  continues  to 
sow  the  "  good  seed  of  the  word,"  and  to  gather 
its  fruits. 

This  history  can  be  attested  by  living  wit 
nesses,  and  facts  which  are  patent  to  many. 
The  author's  plan  is  to  follow  both  the  order  of 
events  and  the  logical  relation  of  topics.  As 
the  subjects  treated  are  intermingled  with  the 
entire  history  of  the  United  States,  the  history 
of  missions  to  the  Indians  of  Oregon  and  Wash 
ington  is  intensely  interesting.  Its  germs  are 
found  in  the  first  ideas  of  God,  given  by  the 
earliest  explorers,  Lewis  and  Clarke,  and  by 
hunters  and  trappers.  These  living  seed- 


viii  Introduction. 

thoughts  prompted  the  mission  of  Indians  to 
St.  Louis  in  1832,  asking  for  more  light  and  for 
teachers.  It  was  the  Macedonian  cry  repeated, 
"  Come  over  and  help  us."  It  was  the  voice  of 
God  in  a  strange  tongue,  to  which  more  than 
one,  guided  by  the  Spirit,  were  ready  to  re 
spond. 

These  pages  show  how  the  coming  of  those 
missionary  men  and  women  and  children  over 
the  plains  and  mountains,  and  round  by  the 
ocean,  and  their  quiet,  patient,  self-denying 
work  for  the  Indian,  the  trader  and  the  trapper, 
the  lonely  traveler  and  the  scattered  settlers, 
in  order  to  establish  Christian  homes,  schools, 
and  churches,  were  the  real  formative  agencies 
of  what  is  best  and  noblest  in  our  present  so 
ciety  and  self-government.  The  wandering 
hunter  and  trapper  failed,  and  the  speculating 
colonist  also  failed.  The  mere  trader  proved  a 
poor  builder  of  commonwealths.  The  traveling 
explorer  was  only  a  reporter.  It  remained  for 
the  missionary  to  be  the  centre  of  a  permanent 
life,  out  of  which  might  grow  the  future  State. 

The  discovery  and  confession  of  this  fact  by 
the  British,  who  sought  to  plant  settlements 


Introduction.  ix 

here,  and  hold  them  as  they  do  other  colonies, 
is  a  strong  testimony  to  the  two-fold  profit  of 
the  Gospel  to  men  for  "the  life  that  now  is, 
and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 

With  these  pages  before  us,  it  is  evident  that 
the  American  missionaries,  sent  to  the  Indians 
of  western  and  eastern  Oregon  from  1834  to 
1840,  became  the  founders  of  the  United  States 
settlements,  and  of  the  provisional  government, 
and  thus  of  holding  this  north-west  coast  for 
our  nation  years  before  the  boundary  question 
was  settled  by  the  treaty  of  1846,  or  Congress 
had  authorized  the  territorial  government  in 
1849. 

Rev.  Jason  Lee,  while  doing  his  full  duty  as 
a  missionary,  took  measures  to  break  the  Brit 
ish  embargo  on  cattle,  enforced  by  the  Hud 
son's  Bay  Company's  refusal  to  sell,  or  allow  an 
American  settler  to  own  a  cow  or  an  ox,  and, 
with  others,  secured  a  band  of  600  from  Cali 
fornia  in  1837.  These  cattle  were  distributed 
among  the  subscribers  to  the  fund  through  the 
valley,  and  thus  their  farms  were  stocked  and 
their  home  comforts  and  improvements  made 
sure,  and  so  the  scheme  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 


x  Introduction. 

Company,  and  their  adherents,  to  exclude  or 
drive  out  every  United  States  settler,  was  foiled. 

Dr.  Marcus  Whitman,  as  a  missionary,  with 
Gen.  A.  L.  Lovejoy  as  his  companion,  and  at 
the  risk  of  losing  their  lives,  made  that  ever- 
famous  winter  march  of  1842-3,  over  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  for  almost  the  sole  purpose  of  in 
troducing  an  immigration  which  would  out 
number  and  out-vote  those  brought  from  Eu 
rope  and  the  Red  River  country  by  the  Hud 
son's  Bay  Company.  He  returned  to  the  East 
in  1843,  and  thereafter  led  about  a  thousand 
men,  women  and  children,  with  their  household 
goods,  in  wagons,  to  the  Columbia  River. 

Thus  Sir  George  Simpson's  attempt  at  Wash 
ington  to  buy  Oregon  for  Newfoundland  and 
the  cod-fisheries,  was  defeated.  The  wagon 
route  to  the  Pacific,  before  Fremont  became 
the  Pathfinder,  was  opened  and  demonstrated 
the  truth  of  what  had  been  previously  denied — 
the  possibility  of  taking  wagons  to  the  Colum 
bia  River,  and  the  way  was  made  plain  for  sub 
sequent  immigrations. 

These  missionaries  were  the  first  to  estab 
lish  schools,  seminaries,  colleges  and  churches 


Introduction.  xi 

in  Oregon  and  Washington,  and  the  first  to 
bring  and  use  the  printing  press.  They  have 
been  the  first  to  describe  the  country,  compile 
its  history,  trace  the  ethnology  of  its  inhabit 
ants,  unfold  the  resources  of  its  minerals,  soil 
and  climate.  They  early  taught  the  Indians 
the  use  of  letters,  trained  them  to  industrial 
pursuits,  as  farmers  and  mechanics,  and  pre 
pared  the  way  for  the  present  higher  cultiva 
tion  and  better  domestic  life  of  many  of  the 
tribes. 

They,  more  than  any  others,  have  diffused 
the  spirit  of  peace  among  those  in  contact  with 
their  missions,  and  have  often  assuaged  the 
war-spirit. 

One  finishes  this  brief  volume  with  the  strong 
impression  that  God  provided  and  sustained 
these  missions  for  great  good  to  the  long-neg 
lected  savages,  many  of  whom  now  give  evi 
dence  of  a  new  life  in  Christ,  and  of  better 
prospects  in  this  world  ;  and  of  richer  bless 
ings  to  our  own  people  and  country. 

G.  H.  ATKINSON. 


PEEFAOE. 


THE  writer  has  no  pet  theories  in  regard  to 
the  civilization  and  christianizxation  of  the  In 
dians,  unless  the  commands  of  the  Bible  to 
preach  the  Gospel  may  be  called  theories. 

A  native  of  the  region  about  which  he  writes, 
a  son  of  parents  who  devoted  themselves  to 
the  work  in  1838,  a  resident  of  Oregon,  Wash 
ington  and  Idaho  for  about  thirty-five  years, 
and  an  experience  of  more  than  seven  years 
in  the  missionary  work,  have  given  him,  he 
humbly  trusts,  some  qualifications  for  the  work. 

In  chapters  two  and  three  the  figures  given 
in  regard  to  church  membership  and  farm  pro 
ducts  may  be  considered  too  large,  but  they 
have  been  taken  from  official  reports,  and  the 
statements  of  credible  witnesses.  It  is  possi 
ble  that  unwittingly  they  have  been  made 
larger  than  impartial  persons  would  consider 
the  facts  warrant,  but  in  the  words  of  another, 


xiv  Preface. 

"  if  one-fourth  of  all  that  is  reported  has  been 
accomplished,  a  great  work  has  been  done. " 

He  feels  largely  indebted  in  the  preparation 
of  these  pages  to  the  following  works,  and 
gratefully  acknowledges  the  assistance  they 
have  rendered : 

The  Reports  of  the  Commisioner  of  Indian 
Affairs  from  1865  to  1880;  and  of  the  Board  of 
Indian  Commissioners  from  1872  to  1880;  The 
Missionary  Herald  from  1834  to  1852  ;  Tracy's 
History  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. ;  The  Annual 
Reports  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  from  1837  to 
1852 ;  Parker's  Exploring  Tour  beyond  the 
Rocky  Mountains  ;  Hine's  Explorations  in  Ore 
gon  ;  and  Oregon  and  its  Institutions ;  Dr. 
White's  Travels  and  Adventures  beyond  the 
Rocky  Mountains  ;  Dunn  on  the  Oregon  Terri 
tory  ;  Twiss  on  the  Oregon  Territory ;  Mrs. 
Victor's  River  of  the  West ;  Thornton's  Ore 
gon  and  California  ;  Gray's  History  of  Oregon; 
Meacham's  Wigwam  and  Warpath  ;  Spalding's 
Congressional  Pamphlet  in  answer  to  Bishop 
J.  B.  A.  Brouillet  ;  Speeches  by  Rev.  G.  H. 
Atkinson,  D.D.,  before  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  and 
New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  1868,  and 


Preface.  xv 

before  the  Oregon  Pioneer  and  Historical  So 
ciety  in  1876 ;  Speech  by  Hon.  W.  H.  Gray 
before  the  Oregon  Pioneer  and  Historical  So 
ciety  in  1877  ;  and  two  letters  by  the  same  to 
the  Bureau  of  Education  at  Washington  on  the 
Indian  Question ;  C.  Eells'  Centennial  Sketch 
of  the  Missions  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  on  the 
North-west  Coast;  and  Report  to  the  same  So 
ciety  of  the  work  of  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman;  The 
Council  Fire  1879-1881,  and  Hon.  El  wood  Evans' 
Centennial  Address  on  Washington  Territory  ; 
Oregon  Archives  ;  General  Howard's  Chief  Jo 
seph,  his  pursuit  and  capture  ;  the  Addresses 
before  the  Oregon  Pioneer  Society  from  1873- 
1881  ;  H.  H.  Gilfry's  Centennial  Address  on 
Oregon,  and  A  Century  of  Dishonor,  by  H.  H. 

He  is  also  indebted  for  favors  to  :  Rev.  A.  L. 
Lindsley,  D.D.,  Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley,  Gen.  J. 
Lane,  Gen.  O.  O.  Howard,  Rev.  H.  K.  Hines, 
Mr.  C.  H.  Walker,  Mrs.  B.  W.  Cooke,  Miss  S. 
L.  McBeth,  Rev.  G.  H.  Atkinson,  D.D.,  Rev. 
C.  Eells,  Captain  C.  Willoughby,  and  Colonel 
O.  Wood. 

The  greater  part  of  Chapter  Six  appeared  in 
the  Council  Fire  in  i88o-'8i. 


xvi  Preface. 

Most  of  the  sketches  of  the  work  on  the  vari 
ous  reservations  have  been  submitted  to  per 
sons  who  are  admitted  to  be  most  competent 
judges. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  all  that  has  been  done 
for  the  Indians  has  been  done  by  missionaries, 
nor  does  the  writer  intend  to  convey  that  im 
pression,  or  to  place  any  disparagement  on  the 
labors  of  others.  Much  has  been  done  by  these 
not  recorded  here,  because  the  author's  aim  has 
been  to  give  simply  a  record  of  mission  work, 
and  its  results. 

If  this  little  volume  shall  do  any  good  to  the 
great  cause  of  missions,  and  the  furtherance  of 
Christ's  Gospel,  the  author  will  be  amply  re 
paid.  M.  E. 

Skokomish,  Washington  Territory,  \ 
October,  1882.  \ 


HISTORY  OF  INDIAN  MISSIONS 
ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST. 


CHAPTER   I. 

EARLY  MISSIONS,  1834-1852. 

"  Clouds  and  darkness  are  round   about  him  :  righteousness 
and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  his  throne." — Psalm  97:  2. 

"  Look  at  the  picture,  half  a  century  old  ! 
"  Four  painted  savages,  not  athirst  for  gold; 
"  Nor  by  ambition  or  revenge  impelled, 
"  Stand  pleading  where  the  tide  of  traffic  swelled, 
"By  the  Missouri's  mighty,  restless  flood  ! 
"  They  seek  the  Christian's  book,  the  white  man's  God." 

A,  T.  Hawley,  1880. 

DAVID  LIVINGSTONE  asserted:  "  No  mission 
has  yet  been  an  entire  failure.  We,  who  see 
such  small  segments  of  the  mighty  cycles  of 
God's  providence,  often  imagine  some  to  be 
failures  which  God  does  not.  *  *  *  If  we 
could  see  a  large  arc  of  the  great  providential 
cycles,  we  might  sometimes  rejoice  when  we 
weep.  But  God  giveth  not  account  of  any  of 
His  matters.  We  must  just  trust  to  His  wis- 


1 8  History  of  Indian  Missions 

dom.  Let  us  do  our  duty.  He  will  work  out 
a  glorious  consummation."* 

When  Lewis  and  Clark  made  their  journey 
across  the  continent  in  1804—6  they  interested 
some  of  the  Indians  in  the  religion  of  the  Bible, 
who  desired  to  know  more  in  regard  to  it.  The 
explorers  promised  that  they  would  use  their 
influence  to  have  religious  teachers  sent  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  The  Indians  waited  in  vain  for  such 
instructors.  After  the  fur  traders  came,  about 
1811,  some  of  them  instructed  the  Indians  fur 
ther  of  the  true  God,  so  that  previous  to  the 
arrival  of  missionaries,  the  Cayuses  had  learned 
to  assemble  on  the  Sabbath  for  worship.  Anx 
ious  to  get  the  Bible,  other  traders  and  trap 
pers  had  sold  them  cards,  telling  them  they 
were  the  Bible;  but  the  Indians  concluded  that 
men  who  could  get  drunk  and  kill  each  other 
did  not  love  the  true  God.  Captain  Bonneville 
states  that  among  the  most  pleasant  scenes  of 
his  life  were  the  hours  he  spent  in  1832  among 
the  Nez  Perces,  while  teaching  them  of  Chris 
tianity  in  answer  to  their  earnest  questions. 

Their  desire  for  more  instruction  became  so 
great  that  in  1832  a  deputation  of  five  Nez  Per 
ces  and  other  Indians  journeyed  eastward  until 
they  reached  St.  Louis.  They  found  Captain 
Clark,  the  old  explorer,  then  Superintendent  of 

*  Pacific,  San  Francisco,  Dec.  3,  1879. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  19 

Indian  Affairs   for   the  whole  north-west,  and 
made  known  their  wants  to  him;  but,  being  a 
Catholic,    he    studiously   avoided   making    the 
facts   public.     Having  waited   until  they  were 
wearied,  one  of  them  is  said  to  have  uttered  a 
lament  which  was  heard  by  a  Christian  man, 
and  their  request  thus  known,  was  answered 
by  two  missionary  societies — that  of  the  Meth 
odist    Episcopal    Church  and    the    American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions.* 
In  June,    1833,  Rev.   Jason  Lee,  of  Canada 
East,  was  ordained  in  New  England,  and  ap 
pointed  by  the  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Meth 
odist   Episcopal  Church   to   superintend   their 
missions  in  Oregon.     In  March,    1834,  in  com 
pany  with  his  nephew,  Rev.  Daniel  Lee,  and 
two  lay  members,  Cyrus  Shepherd  and  P.  L. 
Edwards,  he  crossed  the  continent,  aided  by 
the  expedition   of  Captain   Nathaniel  Wyeth, 
who  was  intending  to  engage  in  the  fur  trade 
in  Oregon.      It  was  their  purpose  to  engage 
in  missionary  work  east  of  the  Cascade  Moun 
tains,  but  Dr.  John  McLaughlin,  Superintendent 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  persuaded  them 
to   settle  in  the  Willamette  Valley.     Having 

*  The  portraits  of  two  of  these  Indians,  Hee-oh'ks-te-kin 
and  H'co-a-h'co-a-h'cotes-min,  or  Rabbit  Skin  Leggings,  and 
No  Horns  on  his  Head,  are  preserved  in  "Catlin's  American 
Indians." 


2O  History  of  Indian  Missions 

reached  that  valley  in  September  of  the  same 
year,  they  soon  erected  a  log-  cabin  ten  miles 
north  of  where  Salem,  Oregon,  now  stands. 
One  of  them  proceeded  to  Fort  Vancouver,  the 
chief  post  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and 
began  a  school  composed  of  half-breed  children 
and  those  three-fourths  white,  whose  parents 
were  connected  with  the  company.  The  others 
gathered  some  dozens  of  the  Indian  children 
into  a  little  log  school-house  at  the  mission 
station,  and  thus  established  "  The  Oregon 
Mission  Manual  Labor  School."  This  soon  be 
came  quite  flourishing,  promising  great  useful 
ness  to  the  Indians.  In  January,  1837,  Captain 
W.  A.  Slocum,  U.  S.  N.,  of  the  Brig  Loriot, 
visited  the  school  and  reported  very  favorably 
in  regard  to  it.  "  I  have  seen,"  he  wrote, 
"  children  who  two  years  ago  were  roaming 
over  their  own  native  wilds  in  a  state  of  savage 
barbarism,  now  being  brought  within  the  knowl 
edge  of  moral  and  religious  instruction,  becom 
ing  useful  members  of  society,  by  being  taught 
the  most  useful  of  all  arts — agriculture — and  all 
this  without  the  slightest  compulsion."  The 
success  of  this  union  of  mental  and  moral  train 
ing  impressed  him  so  favorably  that  he  left  fifty 
dollars  as  his  donation  to  the  school. 

The  missionaries  also  preached  to  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  other 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  21 

whites  in  the  region,  and  so  great  was  the  de 
mand  for  education  and  Christian  labor  that 
Mr.  Lee  earnestly  asked  for  more  laborers. 
Accordingly,  Dr.  E.  White  and  wife,  Mr.  A. 
Beers,  Mr.  W.  H.  Wilson  and  three  unmarried 
ladies  in  1836  were  sent  out  by  way  of  Cape 
Horn,  reaching  Oregon  in  May,  1837,  and  in 
September  following,  Rev.  David  Leslie  and 
family,  Rev.  H.  K.  W.  Perkins  and  Miss  Mar 
garet  Smith  arrived. 

In  1836,  a  Cayuse  chief,  Wai-1'ep-tu-leek, 
brought  his  family  to  the  school;  but  in  Febru 
ary  of  the  year  following,  three  of  his  children 
died  from  fever.  Other  Indian  children  were 
sick  and  some  died,  which  caused  the  chief  to 
leave,  and  created  a  prejudice  against  the  school 
among  the  Indians,  which  it  was  not  easy  to 
overcome. 

In  1838,  a  new  station  was  begun  at  the 
Dalles  by  Revs.  D.  Lee  and  Perkins,  and 
preaching  begun  among  the  Calapooias.  The 
call  seemed  so  great  that  Rev.  J.  Lee,  the 
Superintendent,  returned  East,  overland,  to  se 
cure  a  large  addition  of  laborers.  As  soon  as 
he  reached  the  Shawnee  mission  he  received  a 
letter  which  had  been  sent  to  him  by  express, 
stating  that  his  wife  and  infant  son  were  dead. 

He  still  proceeded  with  his  work  of  urging 
a  large  reinforcement.  In  face  of  opposition 


22  History  of  Indian  Missions 

on  account  of  the  expense,  he  succeeded  in  ob 
taining  all  that  he  requested.  Five  mission 
aries,  one  physician,  six  mechanics,  four  farmers, 
one  steward  or  accountant,  and  four  female 
teachers — thirty-six  adults  in  all,  together  with 
seventeen  children — were  sent  out  in  1839  by 
way  of  Cape  Horn,  and  they  arrived  in  Oregon 
in  May,  1840.  Among  these  were:  Rev.  A.  F. 
Waller,  G.  Hines,  J.  L.  Parrish,  L.  H.  Judson, 
and  J.  Olley,  Dr.  L.  H.  Babcock,  and  Mr.  George 
Abernethy. 

More  was  now  done  than  ever  before,  both 
for  the  Indians  and  whites.  A  mission  was 
begun  at  Clatsop  under  Mr.  Parrish,  another 
on  Puget  Sound  near  Nisqually,  under  Rev.  J. 
P.  Richmond.  Mr.  Waller  was  assigned  to  the 
Indians  at  the  Willamette  settlement,  Mr.  Les 
lie  to  the  whites  at  the  same  place,  Mr.  Hines 
to  those  at  Oregon  City  and  Tualatin  Plains. 

There  was  apparently  a  great  awakening 
among  the  Indians  at  the  Dalles,  and  nearly  the 
whole  tribe,  about  1,000  in  number,  professed 
conversion,  and  were  received  into  the  church. 

A  few  years  later  Mr.  Hines  reports  :  "  Most 
have  relapsed,  a  few  keep  up  the  outward  forms, 
but  their  religion  appears  to  be  more  of  the 
head  than  the  heart,  though  doubtless  they  are 
better  than  if  there  had  been  no  missionaries."* 

*  Exploring  Expedition  to  Oregon,  page  159. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  23 

Not  long  after  the  arrival  of  this  last  rein 
forcement,  affairs  began  to  grow  more  discour 
aging.  The  mission  school  near  Salem  dwin 
dled  to  almost  nothing.  Captain  Wilkes,  of  the 
United  States  Exploring  Squadron,  visited  the 
mission  in  1841,  and  says  :  "  We  hoped  to  get 
sight  of  the  Indians  of  the  Methodist  mission, 
whom  they  were  teaching,  but  saw  only  four 
servants.  We  however  were  told  that  there 
was  a  school  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  scholars 
ten  miles  away.  In  a  few  days  we  visited  the 
mill  where  the  school  was  situated,  but  were 
told  that  it  was  not  in  a  condition  to  be  vis 
ited.  "  A  tour  was  made  into  the  Umpqua  val 
ley,  by  Messrs.  J.  Lee,  Hines,  and  White. 

They  preached  to  the  Indians  on  many  occa 
sions,  but  concluded  that  it  was  not  wise  to 
open  a  mission  there,  partly  owing  to  the  ra 
pidity  with  which  the  Indians  seemed  to  be 
wasting  away.  The  station  on  Puget  Sound 
was  so  unsuccessful  that  it  was  abandoned. 

The  Methodist  Board  in  New  York  too,  be 
came  dissatisfied  with  the  small  returns  received 
from  the  large  amount  expended,  and  deter 
mined,  July,  1843,  to  send  Rev.  George  Gary 
to  supersede  Mr.  Lee  as  Superintendent,  with 
full  power  to  determine  nearly  everything  in 
regard  to  the  mission. 

The  charges  were  that  they  "had  been  misled 


24  History  of  Indian  Missions 

as  to  the  necessity  for  so  great  a  number  of 
missionaries  in  Oregon,  and  to  them  the  unac 
countable  fact  that  they  had  not  been  able  to 
obtain  any  satisfactory  report  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  large  appropriations  to  the  late  rein 
forcement  had  been  disbursed." 

Mr.  Hines  defends  the  mission  and  Mr.  Lee, 
by  saying  that  the  Indian  population  had  been 
wasting  away  like  the  dews  of  the  morning,  be 
tween  the  time  the  great  reinforcement  was 
called  for  and  its  arrival.  Rev.  S.  Parker,  of 
the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For 
eign  Missions,  had  made  a  similar  mistake  in 
estimating  the  Calapooia  tribe  at  8,000  in 
1836,  but  in  1840  only  600  could  be  found.  The 
same  was  true  of  other  tribes,  so  that  Mr.  Lee 
was  not  alone  in  his  disappointment.  In  ref 
erence  to  the  pecuniary  affairs,  Mr.  Hines  says 
that  on  account  of  the  large  amount  of  business, 
Mr.  Lee  had  transferred  this  department  to  Mr. 
George  Abernethy,  afterwards  Gov.  Abernethy, 
who  had  kept  his  books  correctly,  but  that 
owing,  doubtless,  to  the  large  amount  of  busi 
ness,  and  the  difficulty  of  transporting  reports 
to  the  East,  they  had  not  found  their  way  to 
New  York.*  Undoubtedly  there  must  be  truth 
in  this  defense,  as  both  Mr.  Lee  and  Governor 

*  Exploring  Expedition  to  Oregon. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  25 

Abernethy  have  earned  for  themselves  a  high 
reputation. 

In  May,  1844,  Mr.  Gary  reached  Oregon,  but 
before  that,  Mr.  Lee  had  returned  East  to  at 
tend  to  affairs  connected  with  the  mission,  with 
the  expectation  of  coming  again  to  Oregon, 
not  knowing  that  he  had  been  superseded.  He 
died  in  Lower  Canada  in  1845. 

After  a  survey  of  the  ground,  and  a  full  con 
sultation  with  the  mission,  Mr.  Gary  determined 
to  sell  all  the  property  at  Clatsop,  and  abandon 
that  station  ;  to  dismiss  all  the  laymen  con 
nected  with  the  mission  except  one  at  the 
Dalles,  and  either  pay  their  expenses  to  the 
East,  if  they  wished  to  return,  or  to  pay  them 
an  equivalent  out  of  the  mission  property  in 
Oregon,  if  they  preferred  to  remain — an  ar 
rangement  which  was  satisfactory  to  these  lay 
men,  all  but  one  of  whom,  Dr.  Babcock,  pre 
ferred  to  remain. 

Mr.  Gary  also  determined  to  close  the  Indian 
school.  In  1841  this  school  numbered  40  chil 
dren  and  was  too  large  for  its  building.  The 
situation,  however,  was  unhealthy,  and  it  was 
removed  south  ten  miles,  to  where  Salem  now 
stands.  With  the  consent  and  advice  of  the 
Home  Board  a  larger  building  was  erected, 
which  cost  $10,000.  In  1842  the  school  moved 
into  it,  and  at  first  seemed  to  be  flourishing, 


26  History  of  Indian  Missions 

but  after  a  few  months  a  fatal  disease  carried 
off  many  of  the  children,  others  ran  away, 
others  were  stolen  by  their  parents,  and  the 
few  that  were  left  were  mostly  suffering  from 
scrofula ;  hence  it  was  not  strange  that  Mr. 
Gary  closed  the  school.  The  property  was  sold 
to  the  Trustees  of  the  Oregon  Institute,  for 
$4,000,  an  institution  which  has  since  grown 
into  the  Willamette  University. 

Only  five  clergymen  were  now  connected 
with  the  mission:  Messrs  Leslie,  Waller,  Hines, 
Perkins  and  the  Superintendent,  and  the 
Dalles  was  the  only  occupied  station  remain 
ing.  Messrs.  Hines  and  Gary  returned  East 
soon  after  ;  in  1847  the  station  at  the  Dalles 
was  transferred  to  the  American  Board  of  Com 
missioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and  thus  that 
mission  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 
brought  to  a  close. 

About  the  time  the  Methodist  Church  began 
its  work  in  Oregon,  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  also 
laid  plans  for  work  in  the  same  region.  At 
that  time  this  Society  was  supported  by  Con 
gregational,  Presbyterian  and  Dutch  Reformed 
churches. 

In  1834,  the  latter  denomination,  having  re 
solved  to  sustain  a  mission  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  requested  the  American  Board  to 
assume  direction  of  it.  The  request  was  com- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  27 

plied  with,  and  Rev.  Samuel  Parker,  Rev.  J. 
Dunbar,  and  Mr.  S.  Allis,  left  Ithaca,  New 
York,  in  May,  to  explore  the  country.  They 
arrived  at  St.  Louis  too  late  to  join  the  annual 
caravan  of  fur  traders,  whose  protection  they 
needed  in  crossing  the  mountains.  Messrs. 
Dunbar  and  Allis  engaged  in  missionary  labor 
among  the  Pawnees,  but  Mr.  Parker,  in  April, 
1835,  was  joined  by  Marcus  Whitman,  M.D., 
and  they  proceeded  to  St.  Louis.  Under  the 
protection  of  the  American  Fur  Company  they 
traveled  to  Green  River,  a  branch  of  the  Colo 
rado,  the  rendezvous  of  that  Company.  Here 
various  tribes  of  Indians  from  both  sides  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  were  accustomed  annually 
to  meet  the  whites  for  trade,  and  the  informa 
tion  obtained  from  traders,  trappers,  travelers, 
and  Indians,  was  such  as  warranted,  in  their 
opinion,  the  establishment  of  a  mission.  Ac 
cordingly  Dr.  Whitman  returned  to  make  ar 
rangements  for  it,  while  Mr.  Parker  went  on  to 
prepare  the  way,  and  having  explored  the 
region  of  the  Columbia  River,  returned  by 
way  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  Cape  Horn 
in  1837,  and  published  an  instructive  volume 
in  regard  to  his  journey. 

Dr.  Whitman  returned,  accompanied  by  two 
Nez  Perces  Indians.  He  reached  his  home  at 
Rushville,  N.  Y.,  at  a  late  hour  on  Saturday 


28  History  of  Indian  Missions 

night,  and  the  next  morning  first  made  known 
his  return  to  the  neighborhood  by  entering 
church  with  his  two  Indians,  where  they  pro 
duced  a  sensation,  the  people  supposing  him  to 
be  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  As  he  had  spent 
Saturday  night  at  the  residence  of  a  brother, 
his  own  mother  did  not  know  of  his  return 
until  he  came  down  the  aisle  of  the  church  es 
corting  his  dusky  companions.  The  Sabbath 
worshipers  were  no  less  startled  by  the  strange 
appearance  of  the  three  travelers,  than  by  the 
shrill  cry  of  the  missionary's  mother:  "Why, 
there's  Marcus  Whitman  !"  The  next  year,  on 
the  journey  to  the  Pacific  coast,  these  Indians 
were  especially  serviceable.  At  one  time  at 
the  difficult  crossing  of  a  river,  one  of  them 
took  a  small  cord  in  his  mouth  and  swam 
across;  with  this  he  drew  a  larger  rope  over, 
and  thus  at  last  all  were  safely  transferred  to 
the  other  side. 

Early  in  1836  Dr.  Whitman  (having  married), 
Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding  and  wife,  and  Mr.  W.  H. 
Gray,  proceeded  across  the  continent,  a  dis 
tance  then  estimated  to  be  twenty-three  hun 
dred  miles  from  the  western  bounds  of  Missouri. 
They  were  greatly  assisted  in  the  journey  by 
the  American  Fur  Company  and  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  the  latter  of  which  promised 
them  aid  after  they  should  reach  Oregon. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  29 

Some  Nez  Perces  Indians  also,  whom  Mr. 
Parker  had  encouraged  to  expect  missionaries 
about  that  time,  traveled  several  days  to  meet 
them. 

Some  facts  respecting  Mrs.  Spalding,  as  given 
by  her  husband,  indicate  her  force  of  character: 
After  Dr.  Whitman's  return  from  Green 
River  the  previous  year,  his  betrothed  was 
ready  to  go,  but  a  companion,  and  he  a  mar 
ried  man,  must  also  be  procured  for  the  mis 
sion.  Many  persons  were  asked,  but  in  vain. 
He  heard  of  Mr.  Spalding,  and  with  the  per 
mission  of  the  Board  determined  to  see  if  he 
could  be  obtained.  Dr.  Whitman  found  him 
and  his  wife  in  a  sleigh,  in  the  deep  snows  of 
Western  New  York,  on  their  way  to  the  mis 
sion  among  the  Osage  Indians,  under  commis 
sion  from  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  Mrs.  Spalding 
was  recovering  from  a  lingering  illness,  and 
unable  to  walk  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  Dr.  Whit 
man  overtaking  them,  hailed  them  with: 
"  We  want  you  for  the  Oregon  Mission." 
Mr.  Spalding.  "  How  long  will  the  journey 
take  ? " 

Dr.  W.     "The  summer  of  two  years." 
Mr.  S.     "  What  convoy  shall  we  have  ?  " 
Dr.  W.     "The   American   Fur  Company  to 
the  divide." 

Mr.  S.     "  What  shall  we  have  to  live  on  ? " 


30  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Dr.  W.  "  Buffalo  meat  till  we  raise  our  own 
grain." 

Mr.  S.     "  How  shall  we  journey  ?  " 

Dr.  W.     "  On  horseback." 

Mr.  S.     "  How  cross  the  rivers  ?  " 

Dr.  W.  "Swim  them." 

After  this  brief  dialogue,  Mr.  Spalding  turned 
to  his  wife  and  said:  "My  dear,  my  mind  is 
made  up;  it  is  not  your  duty  to  go,  but  we  will 
leave  it  to  you  after  we  have  prayed." 

By  this  time  they  had  reached  a  tavern  in 
the  town  of  Howard,  N.  Y.  Taking  a  private 
room,  they  each  prayed  in  turn,  and  then  Mrs. 
Spalding  was  left  to  herself.  In  about  ten 
minutes  she  appeared  with  a  beaming  face  and 
said: 

"  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  go." 

"  But  your  health,  my  dear  ?  " 

"  I  like  the  command  just  as  it  stands — '  Go 
ye  into  all  the  world/  with  no  exceptions  for 
poor  health." 

"But  the  perils  in  your  weak  condition. 
You  don't  begin  to  think  how  weak  you  are." 

"  The  dangers  in  the  way  and  my  weak  con 
dition  are  His.  Duty  is  mine." 

"  But  the  Indians  will  take  you  prisoner. 
They  are  frantic  for  such  captives.  You  will 
never  see  your  friends  again."  And  the  strong 
man  broke  down  and  began  to  cry. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  31 

Was  it  the  wife  that  answered,  or  was  it  a 
voice  from  the  old  time  ?  "What  mean  ye  to 
weep  and  to  break  mine  heart  ?  for  I  am  ready 
not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die  at  Jeru 
salem"  or  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  "  for  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

The  way  was  perilous.  The  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  had  said :  "Neither  wagons  nor  women 
can  ever  cross  the  terrible  rock  barriers  that 
wall  out  Oregon  from  the  United  States." 
Trappers,  traders,  travelers,  everybody  echoed 
the  words,  "  No  white  woman  can  cross  the 
mountains  and  live."  Catlin,  famous  for  his 
travels  among  the  Indians,  said  at  Pittsburgh: 
"  They  could  never  take  the  women  through. 
One  woman  tried,  but  the  company  was  mas 
sacred,  and  never  heard  of  again."  Similar 
tales  were  repeated  by  others,  but  said  Mr. 
Spalding,  in  regard  to  his  wife,  "  It  didn't  move 
her  a  hair." 

When  they  reached  Council  Bluffs,  Missouri, 
they  found  that  they  were  five  and  a-half  days 
journey  behind  the  American  Fur  Company, 
and  it  was  only  after  a  hard  race  that  they 
overtook  the  company  at  Loup  Fork;  the  com 
pany  apparently  resolved  to  keep  ahead  and 
not  allow  the  missionary  band  to  go  with  them, 
as  Mr.  Spalding  believed,  although  arrange 
ments  had  been  previously  made  to  journey 
with  them. 


32  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Mrs.  Spalding  was  by  no  means  strong,  and 
on  the  morning  of  July  fourth,  owing  to  the 
severity  of  the  journey,  she  fainted,  and  thought 
she  was  about  to  die.  As  they  laid  her  upon 
the  ground  she  said,  "  Don't  put  me  on  that 
horse  again;  leave  me  and  save  yourselves. 
Tell  mother  I  am  glad  I  came."  But  she  re 
vived  and  passed  on. 

As  the  Methodist  missionaries  had  at  first 
intended  to  locate  east  of  the  Cascade  Moun 
tains,  but  owing  to  the  advice  of  Dr.  McLaugh- 
lin,  had  changed  to  Western  Oregon,  so  these 
had  originally  intended  to  work  in  Western 
Oregon,  but  on  finding  that  the  Methodists 
were  already  there,  under  advice  of  the  same 
company,  they  located  in  Eastern  Oregon. 

Mr.  Spalding  began  work  among  the  Nez 
Terces,  at  Lapwai,  the  last  of  November,  1837, 
and  Dr.  Whitman  among  the  Cayuses  at  Waii- 
latpu,  six  miles  west  of  the  present  city  of 
Walla  Walla,  on  the  tenth  of  December.  Mr. 
Gray  aided  these  brethren  in  preparing  homes 
— a  labor  in  which  some  of  the  Indians,  the  Nez 
Perces,  especially,  assisted.  He  also  visited 
other  tribes. 

The  Indians  seemed  so  desirous  of  religious 
instruction  that  the  next  year  Mr.  Gray  was 
sent  East  by  the  mission  to  ask  the  Board  for 
more  missionaries.  Four  of  the  Nez  Perces  ac- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  33 

companied  him,  taking  with  them  a  large  num 
ber  of  horses  and  other  property,  from  the  sale 
of  which  they  expected  to  obtain  means  to  aid 
in  the  expense  of  conducting  the  missionaries 
to  their  country.  But  when  they  reached  the 
Platte  River  they  were  attacked  by  a  party  of 
Sioux,  who  killed  the  Nez  Perces,  and  took  all 
the  property,  Mr.  Gray  alone  escaping. 

Such  seemed  to  be  the  demand  for  teachers 
that  the  Board  sent  to  Oregon,  Rev.  E.  Walker 
and  Rev.  C.  Eells,  who,  with  their  wives,  had 
been  previously  assigned  to  the  Zulus  of  South 
eastern  Africa,  and  Rev.  A.  B.  Smith,  with  Mr. 
Gray  and  wife.  These  started  in  March,  and 
reached  Walla  Walla,  Aug.  29th,  1838. 

The  following  incidents  indicate  their  hard 
ships.  Mrs.  Walker  was  usually  cheerful,  even 
when  others  were  down-hearted,  but  one  day 
when  they  were  camped  on  the  north  fork  of 
the  Platte,  it  rained  very  heavily,  and  worse 
still,  the  water  was  rising  over  the  "  bottom." 

Mrs.  Smith  entered  the  tent  of  Mrs.  Walker, 
found  her  things  piled  up,  and  everything  some 
what  wet,  while  she,  in  rather  an  odd  position, 
was  shedding  tears. 

"  Why,  Mrs.  Walker,"  she  exclaimed,  "  what 
is  the  matter  ?" 

"  I  am  thinking  how  comfortable  my  father's 
hogs  are,"  she  replied. 


34  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Another  time  they  made  a  journey  of  about 
forty  miles  before  breakfast,  which  they  did  not 
get  until  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

A  great  portion  of  the  way  they  had  so  little 
flour  that  they  were  obliged  to  make  buffalo 
meat  and  other  game  the  staff  of  life,  which 
proved  quite  unhealthy  to  some.  When  they 
were  within  500  miles  of  Fort  Hall,  and  learned 
that  Dr.  Whitman  and  Mr.  Spalding  had  sent 
corn  meal  and  other  provisions  to  that  fort, 
they  were  at  first  almost  overcome,  and  felt 
that  the  God  of  missions  had  foreseen  their 
wants  and  seasonably  supplied  them. 

At  a  rendezvous  of  the  fur  companies  and 
Indians,  when  half  way  across,  and  i;ioo  miles 
from  the  western  boundary  of  Missouri,  they 
found  flour  two  dollars  a  pound,  coffee  and 
sugar  three  dollars  a  pint,  salt,  of  which  their 
supply  was  about  exhausted,  was  not  to  be  had 
for  any  price;  they  bought  a  pint  of  tea  for  three 
dollars;  tobacco  was  from  three  to  five  dollars 
a  pound,  and  whisky  thirty  dollars  a  gallon, 
yet  most  of  the  traders  and  trappers  were  so 
drunk  some  days  as  to  be  unfit  for  business. 

Mrs.  Eells  graphically  writes  of  their  adven 
tures:  "  On  the  fifteenth  of  June  we  crossed  the 
Sweetwater.  I  rode  along  the  bank,  saw  the 
carts  cross  the  water  and  thought  it  was  about 
three  feet  deep,  though  many  of  the  loose 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  35 

horses  were  swimming.  I  felt  a  little  afraid 
and  said  to  Mr.  Gray,  '  We  will  stop  until  our 
husbands  have  taken  the  mules  across,  and  re 
turn  for  us,'  as  Mr.  Eells  had  gone  to  lead  the 
way  for  the  pack  animals,  the  other  gentlemen 
to  drive  them.  Mr.  Gray,  the  last  after  the 
mules,  said,  *  The  ladies  come  directly  after 
us.'  Mrs.  Gray  went  first  and  I  followed  her. 
My  horse  mired,  entering  the  river.  I  some 
how  managed  to  dismount  and  wade  through 
the  water  and  mud  on  to  the  bank  again,  but  saw 
no  one  coming  to  my  assistance.  As  soon  as 
I  could  I  went  back  and  tried  to  help  my  horse 
out,  but  he  struggled  so  that  I  could  not  reach 
his  bridle,  when  Mr.  Smith  came  to  my  help. 
As  soon  as  we  were  both  out,  I  saw  Mr.  Eells 
and  myself  covered  with  mud,  and  found  my 
strength  nearly  all  gone.  Mr.  E.  asked  if  I 
was  hurt.  I  said,  '  I  thought  only  frightened.' 
By  this  time  the  company  were  all  over  and 
gone,  and  we  must  not  stop.  Mr.  E.  had  a  tin 
cup  fastened  to  his  belt,  and  he  rinsed  the  mud 
off  my  cloak,  and  then  set  me  on  my  horse 
again,  and  we  went  safely  across.  We  then 
rode  four  and  a-half  hours  without  getting  off 
our  horses.  By  this  time  the  upper  side  of  my 
clothes  were  nearly  dry,  while  the  underside 
were  wet  as  when  we  came  from  the  river.  At 
noon  I  changed  my  shoes  and  stockings,  dried 


36  History  of  Indian  Missions 

my  other  clothes  on  me  as  well  as  I  could,  and 
in  the  afternoon  rode  three  and  a-half  hours 
again.  This  to  me  was  a  pretty  sorrowful  day, 
though  I  had  great  reason  to  be  thankful  that 
I  was  not  hurt,  neither  did  I  take  cold.  *  * 

"  There  is  much  more  danger  attending  the 
journey  than  we  had  supposed.  Since  we  left 
the  States  we  have  found  that  horseback  rid 
ing  in  imagination,  and  in  reality,  are  two  dif 
ferent  things.  We  rise  at  half- past  three  in  the 
morning.  During  considerable  part  of  the  way 
we  are  liable  to  be  met  by  war  parties  of  wild 
Indians,  and  if  we  are  not  sufficiently  strong, 
our  animals  may  all  be  stolen,  and  we  left  to 
wander  in  the  wilderness  with  savages  and 
wild  beasts.  The  first  week  after  we  left  Inde 
pendence,  Mo.,  three  of  our  best  horses,  which 
cost  two  hundred  dollars,  were  stolen.  In 
four  or  five  weeks  another  became  lame,  so  that 
we  were  obliged  to  sell  him  at  half  price.  I 
believe  we  agree  that  no  pen  can  paint  the  re 
alities  of  this  journey  so  that  any  one  who  has 
not  tried  will  understand  it. 

"  Now,  although  it  costs  me  tears  every  time 
I  write  home,  when  I  think  how  neat  and  nice 
we  used  to  go  to  church  together,  and  my  tears 
are  never  suppressed;  yet  I  do  not  wish  to  re 
turn,  nor  have  I  once  regretted  that  I  left  all  my 
dear  friends,  and  all  that  my  soul  holds  dearest 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  37 

on  earth.  No,  we  rather  count  it  a  privilege 
if  we  may  take  our  place  among  the  heathen 
and  be  the  means  of  doing  them  any  good.  I 
only  regret  that  I  am  not  better  qualified  for 
my  work." 

One  great  cause  of  trouble  with  them  was  that 
they  were  obliged  to  travel  on  the  Sabbath,  as 
the  fur  companies  did  so,  yet  it  seemed  about 
as  necessary  thus  to  do,  as  on  an  ocean  steamer 
on  the  same  day.  Indeed,  when  they  were  at 
Cincinnati,  the  advice  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher 
was  asked,  and  he  said,  substantially,  that  if  he 
was  in  a  ship  on  the  ocean,  when  Saturday 
night  came  he  would  not  jump  into  the  ocean. 
Still  some  could  hardly  make  up  their  minds 
that  it  was  right  to  break  one  of  God's  com 
mands  in  order  to  fulfill  another,  although  they 
often  spoke  of  the  journey  "  as  going  to  sea  on 
the  dry  land." 

When  they  reached  Walla  Walla  the  settle 
ments  were  described:  "  The  country  is  large 
and  with  comparatively  few  inhabitants.  The 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  has  a  number  of  trad 
ing  posts,  which  are  generally  about  three  hun 
dred  miles  apart.  Dr.  Whitman  and  Mr.  Spald- 
ing  each  has  a  station.  They  are  125  miles 
apart;  the  Methodist  mission  two  stations,  one 
1 50  miles,  and  the  other  400  miles  from  here. 
Besides  these,  there  are  no  others  in  this  great 
Territory." 


38  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Mails  usually  came  once  in  six  months,  yet  a 
letter  dated  September  loth,  1841,  was  received 
at  the  Spokane  mission  July,  1843,  and  seven 
or  eight  donation  boxes  to  the  mission,  from 
friends  in  the  East,  were  lost  in  the  Columbia 
River  about  the  same  time. 

On  the  arrival  of  this  mission  reinforcement, 
Mr.  Gray  was  associated  with  Mr.  Spalding. 
Mr.  Smith  was  first  stationed  with  Dr.  Whit 
man,  but  the  next  year  he  opened  a  new  sta 
tion  at  Kamiah,  60  miles  from  Lapwai,  among 
the  Nez  Perces,  and  Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells 
likewise  began  another  station  among  the 
Spokanes,  at  Tshimakain,  six  miles  north  of  the 
Spokane  River,  in  the  spring  of  1839. 

The  first  few  years  of  the  mission  were  quite 
encouraging.  Owing  partly  to  the  novelty,  the 
Indians  seemed  very  anxious  to  labor,  to  learn 
at  school,  and  to  receive  religious  instruction. 
In  1837,  as  soon  as  a  school  was  opened  at  Lap 
wai,  Mr.  Spalding  wrote  that  a  hundred,  both 
old  and  young,  were  in  attendance.  As  soon 
as  one  had  learned  something  more  than  the 
others,  they  would  gather  around  him,  while  he 
would  become  their  teacher.  In  1839  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  children,  and  as  many  more  adults, 
were  in  school.  Similar  interest  was  shown  in 
religious  instruction.  They  sometimes  spent 
whole  nights  in  repeating  over  and  over  what 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  39 

they  had  but  partly  learned  at  a  religious  serv 
ice.  Two  years  later  1,000  to  2,000  gathered 
for  religious  instruction.  Then  2,000  made  a 
public  confession  of  sin,  and  promised  to  serve 
God.  Many  of  them  evidently  did  so  with  im 
perfect  ideas  of  what  they  were  doing,  yet  not 
a  few  were  believed  to  give  evidence  of  conver 
sion. 

Among  the  Cayuses,  also,  more  were  ready 
to  attend  school  than  the  mission  family  could 
supply  with  books,  or  had  ability  to  teach. 
Morning  and  evening  worship  was  maintained 
in  all  the  principal  lodges,  and  a  confession  of 
sin  was  made  somewhat  similar  to  that  among 
the  Nez  Perces.  For  a  time,  when  Dr.  Whit 
man  or  Mr.  Spalding  traveled  through  the 
country,  they  were  followed  by  hundreds  of  In 
dians,  eager  to  see  them  and  hear  Bible  truths 
at  night.  They  had  a  strong  desire  for  hoes 
and  other  agricultural  implements,  and  were 
willing  to  part  with  any  property  they  had,  in 
order  to  obtain  them,  even  bringing  their  rifles 
to  be  manufactured  into  such  articles.  From  80 
to  100  families  planted  fields  near  Mr.  Spald 
ing,  and  many  near  Dr.  Whitman  raised  enough 
provisions  for  a  comfortable  supply  for  their 
families. 

In  1838  Mr.  Spalding  reported  that  his  field 
produced  2,000  bushels  of  potatoes,  besides 
wheat  and  other  articles. 


4O  History  of  Indian  Missions 

In  the  year  1841  a  saw  and  grist  mill  were 
erected  among  the  Nez  Perces,  and  a  grist  mill 
among  the  Cayuses. 

At  Kamiah  a  large  part  of  the  Indians  gave 
up  their  roving  habits  for  a  time,  and  remained 
most  of  the  year  at  home,  and  the  Spokanes 
received  Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells  with  glad 
ness. 

In  1837  a  church  was  organized,  and  in  Sep 
tember,  1838,  the  first  Indian  was  received  into 
it;  though,  in  July  previous,  two  Indian  girls, 
who  afterwards  died  in  Mr.  Spalding's  family, 
gave  evidence  of  conversion,  and  were  baptized 
as  the  first  fruits  of  the  work. 

In  November,  1839,  Joseph  and  Timothy, 
Nez  Perces  Indians,  were  admitted  to  the 
church.  In  1840  Mr.  Eells  reported  a  school  of 
eighty  scholars. 

In  1839  tne  mission  received  a  donation  from 
Rev.  H.  Bingham's  church,  at  Honolulu,  Sand 
wich  Islands,  of  a  small  printing  press,  with 
types,  furniture,  paper,  and  other  things,  of 
the  value  of  $450.  The  same  church  had, 
the  year  before,  sent  eighty  dollars  in  money 
and  ten  bushels  of  salt  to  the  Oregon  mission. 
Mr.  E.  O.  Hall,  a  printer  at  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  on  account  of  the  health  of  his  wife, 
came  with  the  press,  and  the  first  book  printed 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  so  far  as  known, 


jisiorg  of 


Mrs.  M.  F.  Eells. 


Rev.  A.  F.  Waller. 


Rev.  D.  Leslie. 


Rev.  E.  Walker. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  41 

was  issued  that  fall  in  the  Nez  Perces  language. 
This  added  new  interest  to  the  school,  and 
other  books  in  the  same  language,  and  one  in 
that  of  the  Spokanes,  followed.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hall  remained  until  the  spring  of  1840,  when 
they  returned  to  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

Not  many  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  mis 
sionaries,  a  traveler  gave  the  following  account 
of  his  experience  with  a  Nez  Perces  guide, 
Creekie  by  name:  After  encamping  at  night, 
"  the  wife  presented  a  dish  of  meat  to  her  hus 
band  and  one  to  myself.  There  was  a  pause. 
The  woman  seated  herself  between  her  chil 
dren.  The  Indian  then  bowed  his  head  and 
prayed  to  God.  A  wandering  savage  in  Oregon 
calling  on  Jehovah  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ ! 
After  the  prayer  he  gave  meat  to  his  children 
and  passed  the  dish  to  his  wife.  While  eating, 
the  frequent  repetition  of  the  words  Jehovah  and 
Jesus  Christ,  in  the  most  reverential  manner, 
led  me  to  suppose  that  they  were  conversing 
on  religious  topics,  and  thus  they  passed  an 
hour.  Meanwhile  the  exceeding  weariness  of 
the  long  day's  travel  admonished  me  to  seek 
rest.  I  had  slumbered,  I  know  not  how  long, 
when  a  strain  of  music  awoke  me.  The  Indian 
family  was  engaged  in  its  evening  devotions. 
They  were  singing  a  hymn  in  the  Nez  Perces 
language.  Having  finished,  they  all  knelt  and 


42  History  of  Indian  Missions 

bowed  their  faces  on  the  buffalo  robe,  and 
Creekie  prayed  long  and  fervently.  Afterward 
they  sung  another  hymn  and  retired.  To  hos 
pitality,  family  affection  and  devotion,  Creekie 
added  cleanliness  and  honesty  to  a  great  de 
gree,  manifesting  by  these  fruits,  so  contrary  to 
the  nature  and  habits  of  his  race,  the  beautiful 
influence  of  the  work  of  grace  on  the  heart."* 

But  the  novelty  gradually  wore  off,  and  dis 
couragements  began.  The  natural  heart  nat 
urally  resisted  the  truths  of  the  Bible,  and  some 
of  the  Spokane  chiefs  led  in  the  opposition.  In 
1838  two  Roman  Catholic  priests  arrived,  spoke 
against  the  missionaries,  and  persuaded  some 
of  the  Cayuses  to  be  baptized  by  them.  Others 
afterwards  came,  established  a  mission  among 
them,  and  one  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Indians 
instigated  some  others  of  the  tribe  to  treat  Dr. 
Whitman  and  Mr.  Gray  with  much  insolence 
and  abuse,  to  destroy  some  property,  and  to 
demand  payment  for  the  land,  timber,  fuel  and 
water  which  had  been  used.  But  by  modera 
tion  and  firmness,  and  with  the  aid  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  the  Indians  after 
wards  admitted  their  guilt,  and  peace  was  ap 
parently  restored. 

In  1841,  Mr.  Smith,  after  suffering  no  little 
annoyance  from  the  savage  manners  of  the  Nez 

*  Century  of  Dishonour,  pp.  106-7. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast,  43 

Perces,  on  account  of  the  failure  of  his  own 
and  his  wife's  health,  left  that  mission  and  Ore 
gon,  and  joined  the  mission  at  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  He  subsequently  returned  to  the  East 
ern  States.  In  his  opinion  the  Indians  were 
Pharisaical,  and  desired  to  make  money  out  of 
the  missionaries. 

About  this  time,  the  mission  was  visited  by 
Captain  Wilkes,  of  the  United  States  Exploring 
Squadron,  who  spoke  of  Mr.  Spalding  as  untir 
ing  in  industry  and  perseverance,  and  succeed 
ing  as  well  as  his  fellows,  but  that  the  success 
among  the  Cayuses  was  very  small. 

By  February,  1842,  affairs  seemed  so  discour 
aging  that  the  Board  of  Missions  concluded  to 
give  up  the  stations  among  the  Cayuses  and 
Nez  Perces,  and  Rev.  J.  D.  Paris  and  Mr.  W. 
H.  Rice,  who  had  been  sent  to  the  mission  by 
way  of  Cape  Horn  and  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
having  reached  the  latter  place,  were  induced 
to  remain  there  temporarily,  an  arrangement 
which  was  afterwards  made  permanent  by  the 
Board  at  Boston. 

The  roving  habits  of  the  Indians,  and  the  de 
crease  in  the  attendance  on  the  schools,  in 
creased  the  trials.  Hence,  Messrs.  Spalding  and 
Gray  were  to  return  East,  and  Dr.  Whitman 
was  to  join  the  Spokane  mission. 

In  the  fall  of  1842,  however,  affairs  took  a 


44  History  of  Indian  Missions 

more  favorable  turn :  the  Spokane  Indians 
showed  more  thoughtfulness  and  conscientious 
ness  ;  the  school  at  Lapwai  increased  to  an 
average  of  eighty,  and  afterwards  to  over  200; 
1,000  Nez  Perces  attended  a  series  of  meetings 
for  nine  or  ten  days,  seven  of  whom  were  ex 
amined  for  admission  to  the  church;  the  Cay- 
use  Sabbath  congregations  varied  in  the  spring 
from  200  to  400,  in  the  fall  from  50  to  200,  and 
less  during  the  rest  of  the  year.  The  two  Nez 
Perces  received  into  the  church  four  years  pre 
vious,  and  some  others  of  whom  hope  was  en 
tertained,  stood  well  as  Christian  workers;  and 
there  was  abundant  evidence  that  the  truth  was 
.exerting  a  restraining  influence  over  most  of 
the  Indians.  Some  of  them  were  becoming 
more  settled,  so  that  50  Cayuse  and  150  Nez 
Perces  families  cultivated  from  a  quarter  of  an 
acre  to  five  acres  each;  one  Nez  Perces  chief 
raised  176  bushels  of  peas,  100  of  corn,  and  300 
of  potatoes.  Mrs.  Spalding  had  taught  a  few 
of  the  Nez  Perces  women  to  knit,  card,  spin, 
and  weave,  and  a  large  number  to  sew. 

The  Nez  Perces,  aided  by  Dr.  E.  White,  first 
U.  S.  Indian  Sub- Agent  for  Oregon,  in  1843, 
organized  a  simple  form  of  government,  elected 
chiefs,  and  adopted  a  few  laws.  With  this  as  a 
precedent,  and  by  the  aid  of  some  of  the  Nez 
Perces,  the  Cayuses  accomplished  similar  re 
forms. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  45 

Dr.  White  regarded  the  Nez  Perces  missiofi 
as  the  most  promising  in  Oregon.  "  I  was 
greatly  surprised, "  he  wrote,  "  in  traveling 
through  the  Indian  country,  to  find  the  outward 
forms  of  Christianity,  prayer  and  singing,  ob 
served  in  nearly  every  lodge."  And  again, 
"  Too  much  cannot  be  said  in  praise  of  the 
Presbyterian  missions,  for  their  efforts  in  be 
half  of  the  Indians,  which  are  indefatigable." 

It  was  also  becoming  evident  that  more 
Americans  were  soon  to  come  into  the  terri 
tory,  and  they  would  need  something  other 
than  Roman  Catholic  preaching. 

All  these  things  determined  the  missionaries, 
in  the  fall  of  1842,  to  continue  all  the  stations, 
notwithstanding  the  instructions  received  from 
the  Board  at  Boston,  until  the  matter  could 
again  be  reconsidered. 

These,  and  other  considerations  relating  to 
the  possession  of  the  country,  to  which  refer 
ence  will  afterwards  be  made,  rendered  it  ex 
pedient,  in  the  opinion  of  the  mission,  for  Dr. 
Whitman  to  return  East.  He  did  so,  leaving 
Walla  Walla  October  3rd,  1842,  and  reaching 
Boston,  March  3Oth,  1843.  He  made  such  rep 
resentations  that  the  Board  ratified  the  action 
of  the  mission,  in  continuing  all  the  stations. 
After  transacting  important  business  at  Wash 
ington,  and  visiting  his  friends,  he  returned 


46  History  of  Indian  Missions 

to  Oregon.  He  left  the  western  frontiers  of 
Missouri,  May  3 1st,  and  after  a  short  time 
overtook  a  company  of  about  875  emigrants, 
some  of  whom,  when  he  was  in  the  East,  he 
had  promised  to  aid,  should  they  determine  to 
go  to  Oregon.  This  journey  was  successfully 
made,  and  the  first  train  of  emigrant  wagons 
rolled  through  to  the  Columbia  River. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gray  were,  at  their  own  request, 
dismissed  from  the  mission  in  the  spring  of 
1843,  that  he  might  become  General  Superin 
tendent  and  secular  agent  of  the  Oregon  Insti 
tute  at  Salem.  A  teacher  was  employed  at 
Lapwai,  and  the  congregation  continued  much 
as  before.  The  novelty,  however,  of  working 
for  themselves  was  gone,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  Roman  Catholic  teachers,  and  others 
opposed  to  the  mission,  told  the  Indians  that 
the  missionaries  ought  to  furnish  them  with 
food  and  clothing  ;  so  that  while  more  was 
done  to  assist  the  Indians,  there  was  more  jeal 
ousy  and  fault-finding  in  1844  than  there  had 
previously  been.  The  increasing  number  of 
emigrants  also  awakened  fears  among  the  In 
dians  of  finally  losing  their  country,  and  caused 
additional  dissatisfaction. 

But  yet  the  work  of  the  missionaries  was  not 
without  its  beneficent  effects  upon  the  hearts  of 
the  Indians,  so  that  at  least  some  of  them  ap- 


On  the  Pacific  Goast.  47 

predated  their  labors;  for  in  February,  1843, 
when  Mrs.  Spalding  was  so  sick  that  it  was 
feared  she  would  die,  a  Nez  Perces  chief  said  : 
"  If  it  could  be,  I  would  gladly  die  in  her  stead 
that  she  might  live  to  teach  the  people." 

In  May,  1843,  nine  Nez  Perces  were  received 
into  the  church — four  men  and  five  women;  and 
twenty-five  or  thirty  others,  it  was  expected, 
would  be  received  in  a  few  weeks  thereafter, 
but  there  is  no  record  to  show  that  this  was 
done.  Two  prayer-meetings  were  then  sus 
tained,  and  200  were  in  the  Sabbath-school. 

In  June,  1844,  ten  more  were  approved  for 
church  fellowship.  During  these  years  the 
work  at  the  other  stations  went  on  much  as 
before,  with  comparatively  little  of  unusual  inter 
est.  The  Spokanes  did  not  engage  in  agricul 
ture  with  as  much  zeal  as  the  other  tribes, 
owing  mainly  to  the  poorness  of  the  soil,  and 
the  coldness  of  the  climate. 

From  this  time  until  near  the  close  of  the 
mission  there  was  but  little  change.  It  was  re 
ported  as  slow,  up-hillwork,  yet  the  Indians 
seemed  to  be  slowly  advancing  in  the  knowledge 
of  Christian  truth,  and  manifested  growing  con 
fidence  in  their  teachers. 

In  June,  1847,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
which  had  given  up  all  their  other  Indian  work 
in  Oregon,  transferred  their  station  at  the 


48  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Dalles  to  the  American  Board  of  Commission 
ers  for  Foreign  Missions,  and  Messrs.  Perrin 
Whitman  and  A.  Hinman  were  appointed  by 
the  mission  to  take  temporary  charge  of  it.  In 
the  spring  of  1847,  some  of  the  Nez  Perces  In 
dians  annoyed  Mr.  Spalding  in  such  a  way  as 
to  prove  fatal  to  his  usefulness  for  a  time,  but 
as  the  season  advanced  a  more  friendly  feeling 
was  shown,  the  chiefs  professing  to  deplore  the 
conduct  of  the  "infidel  party,"  and  earnestly 
desiring  Mr.  Spalding  to  remain  with  them.  Dr. 
Whitman  had  some  misgivings  as  to  his  safety, 
in  regard  to  which  he  consulted  with  Dr.  John 
McLaughlin,  and  in  the  spring  of  1847  urged 
Hon.  J.  Q.  Thornton  to  go  to  Washington  to 
urge  the  establishment  of  a  territorial  gov 
ernment,  as  the  only  means  of  saving  his  mis 
sion  from  the  murderous  hands  of  the  savages  : 
yet  on  the  whole  he  thought  that  affairs  were 
favorable,  and  gave  promise  of  continued  pros 
perity,  so  that  he  was  preparing  to  erect  a 
church  and  other  buildings.  He  also  wrote 
letters  earnestly  requesting  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society  and  the  American  Tract 
Society  to  occupy  the  field,  without  delay;  and 
in  April,  1847,  Mrs.  Eells  wrote:  "  We  feel 
that  as  a  mission  our  prospects  were  never 
more  encouraging." 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  suddenly, 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  49 

Nov.  29th,  1847,  Dr.  Whitman  and  wife,  Mr. 
Rogers,  an  assistant  missionary,  and  six  others, 
chiefly  immigrants,  were  massacred  by  the 
Cayuses,  at  Walla  Walla,  and  a  short  time 
afterwards  other  five.  Dr.  Whitman  was  en 
gaged  in  reading,  when  an  Indian,  to  divert 
his  attention,  solicited  some  medicine.  An 
other  then  came  behind  him  and  struck  him 
on  the  head  with  a  tomahawk,  and  a  second 
blow  rendered  him  lifeless.  Mrs.  Whitman  and 
Mr.  Rogers  fled  up-stairs,  where  she  received  a 
wound  in  the  breast.  By  the  earnest  request 
of  the  Indians,  and  on  promise  of  protection, 
they  came  down,  but  were  quickly  shot.  Mrs. 
Whitman  died  immediately,  her  last  words 
being,  "Tell  my  mother  for  me  that  I  died  at 
my  post."  The  last  prayer  she  is  known  to 
have  offered  was  after  she  was  first  shot,  when 
she  prayed  for  her  adopted  children,  now  again 
to  be  left  orphans,  and  for  her  aged  father  and 
mother  in  the  States,  that  they  might  be  sus 
tained  under  the  shock  which  the  news  of  her 
fate  must  occasion.  Mr.  Rogers  lingered  for 
a  long  time,  the  last  words  he  was  heard  to 
say  being,  "Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly."* 

*  Marcus  Whitman,  M.D.,  was  born  Sept.  4,  1802,  at  Rush- 
ville,  N.  Y.,  and  was  married,  February,  1836,  to  Narcissa 
Prentiss,  daughter  of  Hon.  Stephen  Prentiss.  She  was  born  at 
Prattsburg,  New  York,  March  14,  1808. 


50  History  of  Indian  Missions 

A  few  whites  escaped,  but  the  others,  mostly 
immigrants,  forty-seven  in  number,  were  taken 
captive,  and  held  as  such  by  the  Indians,  until 
they  were  ransomed  through  the  efforts  of  P. 
S.  Ogden,  a  Chief  Factor  and  Associate  Super 
intendent  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  about 
a  month  later.  At  the  time  of  the  massacre 
he  was  at  Vancouver,  but  on  hearing  of  it  he 
proceeded  immediately  to  Walla  Walla,  where, 
by  judicious  management,  he  succeeded  in  se 
curing  the  release  of  the  captives.  Fifty  blank 
ets  and  a  large  amount  of  other  property  were 
paid  to  the  Cayuses  for  them.  It  has  been  said 
without  dispute  that  there  was  probably  not 
another  man  who  could  have  succeeded  in  this 
work  as  he  did. 

Mr.  Spalding,  at  the  time  of  the  massacre, 
was  at  the  Umatilla,  about  forty  miles  distant, 
and  did  not  learn  of  it  until  he  was  within 
about  three  miles  of  the  mission  station,  when 
he  met  a  Catholic  priest,  who  informed  him, 
whereupon  he  turned  and  fled,  by  a  circuit 
ous  route,  towards  "his  own  station.  He  was 
pursued  by  an  Indian  who  intended  to  kill  him; 
but  by  traveling  over  night,  and  hiding  in  the 
day  time,  he  managed  to  escape,  though  at  one 
time  the  Indian  was  within  a  few  yards  of  him. 
The  second  night  his  horse  left  him  and  he  had 
to  travel  on  foot.  His  boots  so  hurt  his  feet 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  51 

that  he  had  to  cast  them  off,  and  he  had  no 
food  except  such  as  he  could  find  on  the  way. 
Thus  he  traveled  near  120  miles,  and  it  was  not 
till  the  seventh  night  he  reached  home,  in  great 
physical  suffering,  much  to  the  relief  of  his  wife, 
who  supposed  he  had  been  killed.  He  found 
his  premises  had  been  plundered  by  hostile  Nez 
Perces,  but  his  wife  protected  by  friendly  chiefs 
of  the  same  tribe. 

When  Mr.  Ogden  rescued  the  captives,  he 
also  sent  word  to  the  Nez  Perces  to  deliver  up 
Mr.  Spalding  and  the  other  whites  at  that 
place.  They  immediately  did  so,  and  con 
ducted  them  to  Fort  Walla  Walla  (now  Wal- 
lula),  receiving  therefor  twelve  blankets  and 
other  property.  The  party  of  ransomed  cap 
tives,  numbering  sixty,  were  then  taken  to 
Oregon  City,  the  capital  of  the  territory,  where 
they  arrived  January  I2th,  1848,  and  were  for 
mally  delivered  to  the  governor,  receiving  a 
salute  from  three  guns,  and  a  hearty  welcome 
from  the  citizens. 

Oregon  volunteers,  under  Colonel  C.  Gilliam, 
proceeded  from  the  Willamette  valley  as  rap 
idly  as  possible  to  chastise  the  Indians;  a  battle 
was  fought  near  the  Umatilla  River,  in  which 
the  Indians  were  routed,  and  the  volunteers 
marched  to  Walla  Walla  and  beyond  Snake 
River,  but  failed  to  secure  the  murderers. 


52  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells  remained  at  their 
station  until  March,  1848,  when  rumors  of 
danger,  of  which  there  had  been  more  or  less 
all  winter,  became  so  startling  that  they  ac 
cepted  an  offer  made  by  Chief  Factor  Lewes, 
to  remove  to  Fort  Colville,  about  seventy 
miles  further  north.  After  the  volunteers 
had  done  all  they  were  able  to  do  with  the 
Cayuses,  the  question  arose,  shall  those  two 
mission  families  be  left  among  the  Spokanes  ? 
Col.  Lee  addressed  his  regiment  in  regard  to 
it,  and  requested  an  expression  of  their  opinion. 
No  verbal  response  was  made,  but  sixty  of 
them  offered  to  go  and  escort  the  families  to 
the  Willamette  valley.  They  immediately  went 
north,  were  met  by  the  families  near  their  sta 
tion,  which  was  abandoned  June  3d,  and  on 
the  twenty-second  of  the  same  month  all 
reached  Oregon  City,  except  Mr.  Eells,  who,  in 
company  with  a  portion  of  the  volunteers, 
crossed  the  Cascade  Mountains  with  the  ani 
mals  and  arrived  two  days  later. 

Col.  H.  A.  G.  Lee,  as  military  commander,  ' 
then  declared  the  country  east  of  the  Cascades 
closed  to  all  missionaries,  owing  to  his  inabil 
ity  to  protect  them,  and  all  hope  of  resuming 
the  missions  was  abandoned,  except  the  one 
among  the  Spokanes.  Messrs.  Eells  and  Walker 
did  not  formally  sever  their  connection  with 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  53 

the  Board  until  1853,  but  after  waiting  until 
that  time,  it  seemed  unwise  to  begin  again, 
although  the  Spokane  Indians  regretted  their 
departure,  and  in  1851  a  large  party  of  them 
traveled  450  miles  to  Oregon  City,  to  request 
the  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  to  furnish 
them  with  teachers. 

The  Mission  Board  offered  Mr.  Eells  a  posi 
tion  in  the  mission  at  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
but  he  preferred  to  remain  in  Oregon.  January 
7th,  1851,  Mrs.  Spalding  died,  owing,  as  her 
husband  believed,  to  exposure  and  hardships 
connected  with  the  massacre. 

Gen.  Joseph  Lane  was  in  1848  appointed 
governor  of  Oregon,  where  he  arrived  in  1849. 
He  immediately  proceeded  to  secure  the  mur 
derers  of  Dr.  Whitman  and  associates.  With 
the  help  of  a  United  States  regiment,  and  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  especially  Dr.  John 
McLaughlin,  he  succeeded  in  having  five  of  the 
murderers  surrendered,  who,  in  May,  1850,  were 
tried  at  Oregon  City,  found  guilty  and  hung. 

The  causes  of  this  massacre  have  been  widely 
discussed.  Probably  the  immediate  cause  was 
that  the  immigrants  brought  the  measles  and 
other  diseases  into  the  country,  which  the  In 
dians  caught,  and  which,  greatly  aggravated 
by  their  imprudence,  carried  off  a  large  number 
of  them.  Some  pretended  that  Dr.  Whitman 
was  giving  them  poison,  while  others  expressed 


54  History  of  Indian  Missions 

their  unabated  confidence  in  him.  To  test  the 
case  it  is  said  that  three  persons  who  were  sick 
were  selected,  and  he  was  asked  to  give  them 
some  medicine.  Having  done  so,  it  is  also 
said  they  all  died,  and  that  this  so  incensed 
the  Indians  that  they  began  the  work  of  death 
immediately.  There  are  many,  too,  who  be 
lieve  that  the  real  cause,  though  a  little  more 
remote,  was  that  the  Indians  were  instigated 
to  these  acts  by  the  Roman  Catholics,  who  had 
established  a  mission  near  by.  Among  such 
persons  are  H.  H.  Spalding,  J.  S.  Griffin,  W. 
H.  Gray,  and  C.  Eells. 

Mrs.  F.  F.  Victor,  too,  in  her  River  of  the 
West  (chapter  36)  says:  "  Certain  it  is  that 
they  (the  Roman  Catholic  priests)  preserved  a 
neutral  position,  when  to  be  neutral  was  to 
seem,  if  not  to  be,  devoid  of  human  sympa 
thies.  ...  It  was  quite  natural  that  the 
Protestants  should  wonder  at  the  immunity 
from  danger  which  the  priests  enjoyed,  and 
that,  not  clearly  seeing  the  reason,  they  should 
suspect  them  of  collusion  with  the  Indians.  It 
was  natural,  too,  that  the  sufferers  from  the 
massacre  should  look  for  some  expression  of 
sympathy  from  any  and  all  denominations  of 
Christians,  and  that,  not  receiving  it,  they 
should  have  doubts  of  the  motives  which 
prompted  such  reserve." 

The  following  questions  in  regard  to  certain 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  55 

facts  may  at  least  be  asked,  and  although  there 
have  been  attempts  made  by  the  Catholics  to 
answer  them,  yet  until  they  are  answered  more 
satisfactorily  than  hitherto,  the  wonders  and 
doubts  hinted  at  by  Mrs.  Victor  will  still  exist 
among  a  large  class  of  unprejudiced  Protestants. 
Why  was  it  that  Bishop  Brouillet  baptized 
some  of  the  children  of  the  murderers,  on  the 
field  of  carnage,  and  with  perfect  safety,  before 
the  victims  were  even  buried  ?  Why  did  Mr. 
McBean,  a  Catholic,  then  in  charge  of  Fort 
Walla  Walla,  refuse  admittance  to  Mr.  Hall, 
who  had  escaped  from  the  massacre  and  reached 
that  fort  on  foot,  and  order  him  to  put  across  the 
Columbia  River,  afoot  and  alone,  without  food, 
thus  to  make  the  journey  to  the  Dalles,  125 
miles  distant  ?  He  either  perished  or  was  killed 
by  the  Indians,  as  he  was  never  heard  of  after 
wards.  Why  did  he  shortly  afterwards  refuse 
admittance  to  Mr.  Osborne,  another  refugee 
from  the  massacre,  until  he  said  "I  will  die  at 
your  doors  unless  you  allow  me  to  come  in"? 
Why  did  he,  when  he  wrote  to  Governor  Ogden 
at  Fort  Vancouver,  informing  him  of  the  sad 
event,  fail  to  write  to  Mr.  Hinman,  then  in 
charge  of  the  newly  bought  mission  station  at 
the  Dalles  ?  On  the  other  hand,  why  did  he 
strictly  charge  the  messenger  as  he  should  pass 
through  the  Dalles  not  to  say  anything  about 
it,  although  he  wrote  Governor  Ogden  that  the 


$6  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Indians  reported  that  a  party  was  starting,  or 
about  to  start,  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  off 
the  whites  at  the  Dalles.  Mr.  Hinman  left  the 
station  and  his  family  unprotected,  and  went 
down  the  Columbia  River  to  Vancouver  with 
the  messsenger,  and  did  not  learn  of  the  mas 
sacre  until  he  was  part  way  down  the  river.  In 
contrast  with  this,  Mr.  Ogden  hastened  quickly 
to  rescue  the  captives,  and  Mr.  Lewes,  of  Fort 
Colville,  welcomed  Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells  to 
his  fort,  when  he  believed  there  was  danger. 
Both  of  these  gentlemen  were  in  the  employ  of 
the  same  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Why  did 
the  Roman  Catholic  priest  at  the  Umatilla  re 
fuse  any  assistance  or  words  of  comfort  to  Miss 
Bewley,  one  of  the  captives,  who  had  been 
taken  to  his  station  and  given  to  an  Indian 
chief  as  his  wife,  although  she  pleaded  with  the 
priest  night  after  night,  that  he  would  use  his 
influence  to  prevent  her  being  taken  each  night 
to  the  lodge  of  the  Indian  ?  These  questions, 
arising  out  of  the  facts  on  which  they  are  based, 
demand  answers.  But  enough.  Thus  closed  both 
missions  :  one,  it  might  be  said,  died  a  natural 
death,  and  the  other  was  killed.  At  first  sight 
they  seemed  to  be  a  failure,  but  a  longer  view 
of  the  arc  of  the  cycle  of  God's  providence  re 
veals  a  different  result.  Seed  was  sown  which 
has  produced  fruit  for  other  Indians  and  whites, 
as  we  shall  see. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  57 


CHAPTER  II. 

LATER  MISSIONS — NEZ  PERCES — CAYUSES — SPO 
KANES — YAKAMAS. 

"Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters:  for  thou  shalt  find  it  after 
many  days." — Eccl.  n:  i. 

EXPERIENCE  proves  that  time  is  required  to 
change  the  Indian.  In  1835  missionaries  first 
began  work  among  the  Sioux,  but  no  great 
success  attended  their  labors  until  about  1862-3. 
This  is  due  to  three  causes:  I,  the  native  de 
pravity  and  ignorance  of  the  Indians;  2,  the 
influence  of  a  certain  class  of  low  whites  who 
are  generally  on  the  frontier;  and  3,  the  unwise 
and  unjust  dealings  of  government.  Experi 
ence  also  shows  that  continued  labor  among 
them  is  successful;  and  as  a  rule  the  oldest 
missions  are  by  far  the  most  successful,  and  the 
success  seems  to  increase  in  proportion  to  the 
time  occupied,  not  in  an  arithmetical,  but  in  a 
geometrical  progression;  not  by  addition  of 
numbers,  but  by  multiplication  of  them. 

Those  who  favor  the  christianization  of  the 
Indians  rather  than  their  extermination,  and 
those  who  favor  their  civilization,  with  chris- 


58  History  of  Indian  Missions 

tianity  as  the  centre  and  root  of  it,  in  prefer 
ence  to  their  civilization  by  labor,  with  Chris 
tianity  and  the  Bible  to  come  afterwards,  if  at 
all,  are  sometimes  said  to  be  only  eastern  hu 
manitarians,  who  know  but  little,  if  anything, 
about  Indians.  It  is  not  true.  There  are  very 
few,  if  any,  who  favor  the  Christian  modes 
more  than  the  missionaries;  and  there  are  very 
few,  if  any,  who  come  more  closely  in  contact 
with  the  Indians,  or  see  a  darker  or  more  dis 
couraging  side  to  the  work  of  christianizing 
them,  than  these  same  men. 

In  1835  tne  missionaries  went  among  the 
Sioux.  In  1862  they  saw  many  of  those  Sioux 
among  whom  they  had  labored  rise  and  engage 
in  one  of  the  most  terrible  massacres,  probably, 
that  America  has  ever  witnessed.  Were  they 
discouraged  ?  No.  They  believed  the  Bible 
too  firmly.  They  went  to  those  Sioux  in  their 
prisons  the  next  winter,  where  they  preached  to 
them,  and  in  a  few  weeks  were  rewarded  by 
seeing  about  three  hundred  hopefully  converted, 
and  witness  a  profession  which  some  honored 
during  their  lives  and  many  of  them  have  hon 
ored  until  the  present  time. 

The  same  has  been  true  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
In  1836  Mr.  Spalding  and  'wife  began  work 
among  the  Nez  Perces.  In  November,  1839, 
Joseph  and  Timothy  were  admitted  to  the 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  59 

church.  Timothy  ever  afterwards  honored  his 
profession,  but  in  1847  Joseph  was  one  of  the 
leaders  of  those  who  pillaged  the  house  and  de 
stroyed  the  mission  premises.  Were  they  dis 
couraged  ?  No;  they  waited  patiently  for  the 
doors  to  re-open,  so  as  again  to  enter  their 
field,  and  eleven  years  afterwards  Mr.  Spalding 
returned,  and  had  the  joy  of  baptizing  sev 
eral  hundred  of  them  before  his  death,  in  1874. 
The  old  men  do  not  tire  now  of  talking  of  his 
instruction. 

In  1838  Rev.  E.  Walker  and  C.  Eells  went 
among  the  Spokane  Indians.  In  1847  Mrs. 
Eells  wrote:  "  I  think  that  the  long  dreary 
winters,  together  with  the  thought  that  they 
do  not  attain  the  object  for  which  they  were 
sent,"  namely,  the  conversion  of  the  Indians, 
"  have  much  to  do  in  impairing  the  general 
health,  and  greatly  depressing  the  spirits."  In 
1848,  when  the  mission  was  broken  up,  al 
though  the  Indians  were  very  kind,  yet  not  one 
of  them  gave  sufficient  evidence  of  conversion 
to  be  received  into  the  church.  They  might  have 
been  discouraged,  but  they  were  not.  In  1875 
Mr.  Eells  sat  with  54  of  them  around  the  Lord's 
Table,  and  said  that  if  one-quarter  or  even  one- 
eighth  of  the  more  than  200  who  had  been  bap 
tized  were  real  Christians,  he  was  more  than 
repaid  for  all  his  labors,  and  he  advised  a 


60  History  of  Indian  Missions 

young  missionary  not  to  be  discouraged,  be 
cause  he  believed  that  Christian  work  among 
the  Indians  was  fully  as  successful  as  among 
the  whites,  if  not  more  so. 

Dr.  Whitman  commenced  labor  among  the 
Cayuses  in  1838.  He  received  very  few  into 
the  church  during  his  life,  and  alas,  one  of  them 
was  an  actor  in  the  horrible  scene  of  his  mas 
sacre.  Another  Indian,  who  held  one  of  the 
captives  as  his  wife,  was  careful  to  have  morn 
ing  and  evening  prayer,  and  to  read  a  portion 
of  Scripture.  Yet  Dr.  Whitman's  companions 
were  ready,  as  soon  as  Providence  opened  the 
way,  to  resume  work  among  the  Indians,  and 
old  Is-tik-us,  a  Cayuse  chief,  as  long  as  he 
lived,  lived  as  a  Christian. 

In  1838  Rev.  H.  K.  W.  Perkins  and  D.  Lee 
established  the  mission  at  the  Dalles.  After  a 
time  there  was  a  great  revival  and  a  thousand 
Indians  were  supposed  to  be  converted.  Some 
time  after  a  doubt  was  expressed  in  regard  to 
their  conversion,  and  the  opinion  given  that 
it  was  only  an  outward  change  in  order  to 
obtain  presents.  Mr.  Perkins  thought  not,  and 
named  one  whom  he  believed  to  be  soundly 
converted.  But  soon  Mr.  Lee,  his  companion, 
came  in  and  said:  "What  kind  of  a  proposition 
do  you  think made  me  ?"  naming  the  In 
dian  just  referred  to.  "He  says  he  will  pray  a 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  61 

whole  year  if  I  will  give  him  a  shirt  and  a 
capote"  (a  loose  coat).  In  1847  ^e  mission 
was  sold,  and  the  next  year  some  of  the  Indi 
ans  joined  the  Cayuses  in  the  war  against  the 
whites.  But  according  to  the  report  of  the 
Methodist  Board  of  Missions  for  1857,  one  of 
the  Klikitat  Indians  kept  a  Testament  given 
to  him  by  Mr.  Perkins,  as  of  great  value,  and 
occasionally  preached  to  the  other  Indians. 
In  1870,  Billy  Chinook  and  John  Mission 
had  not  forgotten  the  instruction  which  they 
had  received  at  the  Dalles,  and  acknowledged 
the  vows  then  taken,  and  were  taking  a  leading 
part  in  the  progress  of  their  tribe  towards 
Christianity.  The  seed  then  sown  is  now  seen 
growing  and  ripening  under  Captain  John  Smith 
at  the  Warm  Springs  Agency. 

The  first  period  of  American  intercourse  with 
the  Indians  in  a  Christian  way  closed  in  1848,  as 
related  in  the  previous  chapter,  and  was  wholly 
disconnected  from  the  Government,  but  the 
second  period  has  a  large  connection  with  it. 
It  really  began  in  1842,  when  Dr.  E.  White  was 
appointed  the  first  Indian  Sub- Agent,  but  little 
was  done  with  the  Indians  until  1855.  After 
the  Cayuse  war  in  1848,  owing  to  the  sparseness 
of  the  population  in  the  country,  especially  east 
of  the  Cascade  Mountains,  the  Government  of 
Oregon  felt  too  weak  to  protect  citizens  in  that 


62  History  of  Indian  Missions 

part  of  the  country,  and  by  official  proclama 
tion  it  was  closed  to  white  settlers.  In  1855, 
Governor  I.  I.  Stevens  and  others,  under  au 
thority  from  our  Government,  made  treaties 
with  the  greater  portion  of  the  tribes  in  Ore 
gon  and  Washington,  and  they  were  assigned 
to  the  various  reservations.  But  the  work  was 
scarcely  finished  before  the  Yakama  war  oc 
curred.  At  the  close  of  this,  the  tribes  went 
on  to  their  reservations,  and  by  1859  the  treat 
ies  began  to  be  fulfilled  on  the  part  of  Govern 
ment.  Up  till  this  time,  however,  the  officials 
connected  with  the  Indian  department  were 
mostly  politicians,  appointed  as  a  reward  for 
political  services,  and  not  on  account  of  their 
fitness  for  the  office,  their  honesty,  or  Christian 
ity,  or  with  much  view  to  benefit  the  Indians. 
This  method  continued  until  1871,  with  the  ex 
ception  of  about  a  year  in  1870,  when  the  mil 
itary  had  charge. 

When  General  Grant  became  President,  he 
was  so  well  satisfied  with  the  failure  of  this 
policy  to  benefit  the  Indians,  that  he  deter 
mined  to  adopt  another,  which  has  been  called 
the  Peace  policy.  This  began  the  third  period. 
The  plan  was  to  assign  different  agencies  to  the 
missionary  societies  of  the  various  religious  bod 
ies,  with  the  request  that  they  would  nominate 
Agents,  who  should  be  honest,  faithful,  capable 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  63 

Christian  men.  While  it  was  not  the  inten 
tion  of  the  Government  to  perform  missionary 
labor,  it  was  hoped  that  suitable  men  would  be 
secured  for  the  positions,  and  also  that  the 
missionary  societies  would  see  that  the  Gov 
ernment  was  willing  to  encourage  Christian 
work  among  the  Indians.  These  various  tribes 
will  now  be  considered. 

Nez  Perces  and  Cayuses.  After  Mr.  Spalding 
left  the  Nez  Perces,  there  was  no  white  man 
to  teach  them  for  many  years  ;  yet  frequent 
accounts  came  from  immigrants  who  passed 
through  the  country,  Indian  agents,  and  tra 
ders  residing  there,  and  General  Joel  Palmer 
and  others  who  attended  the  council  at  Walla 
Walla  in  1855,  when  the  treaty  was  made. 
All  reports  agreed  that  two  or  three  lodges  of 
the  Cayuses,  numbering  about  45  persons,  and 
about  one-third  of  the  3,000  Nez  Perces,  had 
kept  up  regular  family  and  public  worship. 
They  sang  from  the  Nez  Perce  Hymn  Book, 
and  read  in  their  own  language  the  gospel  ac 
cording  to  Matthew,  which  had  been  furnished 
them  by  Mr.  Spalding  before  the  mission  closed. 
Many  of  them  showed  surprising  evidences  of 
piety,  especially  Timothy,  who  was  their  reg 
ular  and  faithful  preacher  during  all  those 
years;  and  many  of  them  kept  up  their  knowl 
edge  of  reading  and  writing  so  well,  that  they 


64  History  of  Indian  Missions 

took  notes  at  the  council,  and  made  copies  of 
the  treaties  and  speeches,  eight  years  after  the 
mission  closed.  The  Nez  Perces  and  Protest 
ant  portion  of  the  Cayuses  were  the  chief 
agents  in  securing  a  peaceful  council  and  the 
treaty.  At  that  time  they  also  expressed  a 
strong  desire  that  religious  teachers  should 
again  be  sent  among  them. 

Then  followed  the  Yakama  war  in  1855 — 6, 
in  which  these  Indians  remained  faithful  to  the 
whites,  after  which  the  Nez  Perces  went  to 
their  reservation  and  the  Cayuses  and  others 
to  the  Umatilla  reservation. 

No  further  Protestant  work  was  ever  under 
taken  among  the  now  extinct  Cayuses,  who, 
as  a  tribe,  were  never  very  numerous  ;  though 
they  were  wealthy,  and,  owing  to  this  and  their 
character,  were  powerful.  Old  Is-tik-us,  one  of 
their  chiefs,  as  long  as  he  lived,  is  said  to  have 
rung  his  bell  on  the  Sabbath  and  called  his  band 
together  to  worship  God.  Says  the  Hon.  J.  W. 
Nesmith  of  him:  He  was  "  the  only  Indian  I 
ever  saw  that  I  thought  had  any  conception 
of  and  practiced  the  Christian  religion.  " 

In  1859,  by  military  proclamation,  the  coun 
try  east  of  the  Cascade  Mountains  was  opened 
for  white  settlements.  Soon  after  Rev.  H.  H. 
Spalding,  who  had  for  twelve  years  been  anx 
iously  waiting  and  watching  for  an  opportunity 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  65 

to  return  to  his  work,  went  back  to  the  Nez 
Perces.  He  did  so  with  the  advice  of  the  Con 
gregational  Association  and  by  the  resolution 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Oregon. 

In  regard  to  this  event,  Mr.  J.  W.  Anderson, 
Indian  Agent  for  that  tribe  at  that  time,  wrote 
as  follows  :  "  Although  Mr.  Spalding  had  been 
absent  from  the  tribe  many  years,  yet  they  re 
tained  all  the  forms  of  worship  which  had  been 
taught  them.  Many  of  them  have  prayers 
night  and  morning  in  their  lodges.  Not  hav 
ing  any  suitable  school-house,  I  permitted  Mr. 
Spalding  to  open  his  school  in  my  office  shortly 
after  his  arrival,  and  from  that  time  till  he  was 
compelled  to  discontinue  the  school  from  se 
vere  sickness,  the  school  was  crowded,  not 
only  with  children,  but  with  old  men  and  wo 
men,  some  of  whom  were  compelled  to  use 
glasses  to  assist  the  sight.  Some  of  the  old 
men  would  remain  until  bed-time  engaged  in 
transcribing  into  their  language  portions  of 
Scripture  translated  by  Mr.  Spalding.  " 

Hon.  Alexander  Smith,  Judge  of  the  first 
judicial  district  of  Idaho,  also  wrote  an  inter 
esting  account  of  services  held  by  Mr.  Spalding 
at  Lewiston,  which  was  published  in  the  San 
Francisco  Pacific,  February  6th,  1864.  He  said: 
"  On  Sunday  last  I  had  the  pleasure  of  attend 
ing  church  at  this  place,  conducted  in  Nez 


66  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Perce  by  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding.  The  Gov 
ernor,  federal  and  county  officers,  and  citizens 
of  Lewiston  were  mostly  present.  The  scene 
was  deeply  solemn  and  interesting;  the  breath 
less  silence,  the  earnest,  devout  attention  of 
that  great  congregation  (even  the  small  chil 
dren)  to  the  words  of  their  much  loved  pastor; 
the  spirit,  the  sweet  melody  of  their  singing; 
the  readiness  with  which  they  turned  to  hymns 
and  chapters,  and  read  with  Mr.  Spalding  the 
lessons  from  their  Testaments  which  Mr.  Spald 
ing  had  translated  and  printed  twenty  years 
before;  the  earnest,  pathetic  voice  of  the  native 
Christians  whom  Mr.  Spalding  called  upon  to 
pray — all,  all  deeply  and  solemnly  impressed 
that  large  congregation  of  white  spectators, 
even  to  tears.  It  were  better  a  thousand  times 
over,  if  Government  would  do  away  with  its 
policy  that  is  so  insufficiently  carried  out,  and 
only  lend  its  aid  to  a  few  such  men  as  Mr. 
Spalding,  whose  whole  heart  is  in  the  business, 
who  has  but  one  desire,  to  civilize  and  chris 
tianize  the  Indians." 

But  governmental  policy  and  officers,  the  In 
dian  ring,  and  others,  did  not  long  allow  Mr. 
Spalding  to  remain  on  the  reservation.  Some 
of  the  time  he  was  on  the  outskirts,  some  of 
the  time  in  the  Walla  Walla  region,  and  some 
times  elsewhere;  yet  all  of  the  time  he  was 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  67 

aiming  to  do  one  thing,  notwithstanding  the 
opposition  of  those  who  so  often  defeated  him. 
It  was  not,  however,  until  he  went  in  person 
to  Washington,  in  the  winter  of  1870-71,  that 
he  obtained  an  order  freely  to  return  to  his 
field.  He  re-entered  it  in  the  fall  of  1871,  and 
for  three  years  he  worked  with  unabating  zeal, 
and  during  this  time  he  was  allowed  to  gather 
in  the  harvest. 

When  the  agencies  were  assigned  to  the  va 
rious  religious  bodies  in  1871,  this  one  was 
transferred  with  cordiality  by  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 
to  the  Presbyterian  Board,  which  sent  some 
other  workers  into  the  field,  so  that  Mr.  Spald- 
ing  was  not  alone.  Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley  and 
wife  went  there  in  August,  1871,  and  remain 
ed  till  July,  1872;  and  Rev.  R.  N.  Fee  and 
wife  aided  in  the  work  for  a  time,  as  did  also 
native  Christians  from  the  Yakama  reservation. 
Some  years  previous  to  1871,  a  band  of  these 
Yakama  Indians  had  visited  the  Nez  Perces, 
with  their  native  preacher.  Thomas  Pearne 
and  a  number  of  the  Nez  Perces  had  professed 
conversion;  young  Timothy,  a  son  of  old  Tim 
othy,  being  among  the  number.  A  letter  writ 
ten  by  Mr.  Spalding  in  1872,  gives  an  account 
of  another  visit  of  these  Yakama  Indians  to 
their  Nez  Perces  brethren.  He  says:  "The 


68 .  History  of  Indian  Missions 

delegation  of  Christians  from  Brother  Wilbur's 
native  church  at  Simcoe  consisted  of  the  head 
chief,  every  way  a  gentleman,  an  eloquent 
speaker,  and  most  earnestly  devoted  to  his 
Master's  work;  Rev.  George  Waters  ....  and 
thirteen  others  who  were  all  earnest  in  the 
noble  work  which  they  had  undertaken.  The 
object  of  their  work  and  mission  was  purely 
religious,  and  their  arrival  was  most  timely.  I 
met  them  at  Halapawawi,  in  the  western  part 
of  the  nation,  and  at  once  commenced  a  series 
of  meetings,  which  continued  for  twenty-one 
days,  changing  to  three  different  places,  one 
hundred  miles  apart.  Probably  one  hundred 
Nez  Perces  accompanied  us  from  Halapawawi 
and  Lapwai  to  Kamiah,  and  probably  a  hun 
dred  more  returned  with  us  from  Kamiah.  Two 
boys  from  the  school  walked  seventy-five  miles, 
so  hungering  were  they  for  the  word  of  God. 
Many  mothers  carried  their  infants  strung  to 
their  saddles,  and  a  young  child  behind.  I 
never  saw  anything  like  it  among  us  white- 
skins.  Brother  Waters  did  most  of  the  preach 
ing,  speaking  every  day,  often  three  times  a 
day.  Two  days  we  were  on  our  feet  seven 
hours  each  day,  with  but  fifteen  minutes  inter 
mission." 

In  addition  to  the  Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley  and 
wife,  Mr.  Spalding  had  about  eight  Indian  as- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  69 

sistants,  on  whom  he  greatly  depended.  Mr. 
Spalding  also  wrote:  "  It  is  hard  work  to  ride 
horseback,  and  lie  on  the  ground  with  the  In 
dians,  but  it  is  healthy;  and,  oh  !  what  prayers 
in  class  reservation  meeting,  almost  every  night 
on  the  route.  .  .  .  Jay  Cooke,  of  Philadelphia, 
has  sent  me  a  good  tent  and  equipage,  which 
adds  to  my  traveling  comforts." 

The  next  year,  at  the  request  of  the  Spokanes, 
he  visited  and  baptized  a  number,  and  also 
more  of  the  Nez  Perces.  The  whole  number 
of  the  latter  tribe  which  he  baptized  during 
the  last  three  years  of  his  life  was  694.  It  was 
to  be  expected  that,  amid  so  much  excitement, 
many  would  be  received  whom  it  would  be 
necessary  to  sift  out.  This  has  been  done,  as 
we  shall  see  hereafter.  Notwithstanding,  a 
great  work  was  accomplished  by  him. 

About  this  time  Rev.  S.  N.  D.  Martin,  for 
merly  of  the  Chinese  mission,  went  to  Mr. 
Spalding's  assistance;  and  Rev.  George  Ainslie 
and  Miss  S.  L.  McBeth,  formerly  of  the  Choc- 
taw  mission,  who  were  employed  as  teachers 
by  government  at  Lapwai  and  Kamiah,  also 
served  as  missionaries.  The  latter,  who  arrived 
in  October,  1873,  has  remained  to  the  present 
time. 

Thus  Mr.  Spalding  continued  in  labor  until 
his  last  illness,  when  he  laid  himself  down  to 


70  History  of  Indian  Missions, 

die  at  Lapwai,  among  those  for  whose  benefit 
he  had  spent  the  best  part  of  his  life,  and  was 
transferred  to  his  reward,  August  3rd,  1874,  at 
the  age  of  nearly  71.  He  was  born  November 
26th,  1 803,  in  Steuben  County,  New  York,  grad 
uated  at  the  Western  Reserve  College,  Ohio, 
1833,  and  studied  theology  at  Lane  Seminary, 
Ohio. 

"  Perhaps, "  says  the  Oregonian  of  August 
22d,  1874,  "it  is  to  his  influence  more  than  to 
any  other  single  cause,  that  the  Nez  Perces  are 
indebted  for  the  distinction  they  enjoy  of  being 
regarded  as  the  most  intelligent  and  the  least 
savage  of  all  our  Indian  tribes.  Amid  the 
grateful  remembrance  of  those  who  came  in 
after  him  to  enjoy  the  blessings  his  sacrifices 
purchased,  he  rests  from  his  labors,  and  his 
works  do  follow  him.  " 

Rev.  W.  J.  Monteith,  father  of  the  Agent, 
while  making  his  home  with  his  son  for  the  last 
few  years  of  his  life,  became  greatly  interested 
in  the  tribe,  and  gave  his  services  to  them,  as 
he  was  able,  until  his  death,  August  3 1st,  1876. 
In  May,  1877,  Rev.  J.  R.  Thompson,  of  Olympia, 
Washington  Territory,  visited  the  reservation, 
and  received  30  persons  into  the  reservation 
church. 

During  all  of  this  time  Miss  McBeth  con 
tinued  her  labors  as  teacher,  translator  of  the 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  71 

Bible,  and  theological  professor  at  Kamiah. 
The  following  is  an  account  of  a  visit  to  her  by 
General  O.  O.  Howard,  in  the  Chicago  A dvance 
of  June  I4th, 1877: 

"  In  a  small  house  having  two  or  three  rooms 
I  found  Miss  McBeth  living  by  herself.  She  is 
such  an  invalid  from  partial  paralysis,  that  she 
cannot  walk  from  house  to  house,  so  I  was  sure 
to  find  her  at  home.  The  candle  gave  us  a 
dim  light,  so  that  I  could  scarcely  make  out 
how  she  looked  as  she  gave  me  her  hand,  and 
welcomed  me  to  Kamiah.  The  next  time  I 
saw  her  by  day,  showed  me  a  pale  intellectual 
face,  above  a  slight  frame.  How  could  this  face 
and  frame  seek  this  far-off  region  ?  Little  by 
little  the  mystery  is  solved.  Her  soul  has  been 
fully  consecrated  to  Christ,  and  He  has,  as  she 
believes,  sent  her  upon  a  special  mission  to  the 
Indians.  Her  work  seems  simple,  just  like  the 
^Master's  in  some  respects.  For  example,  she 
fathers  her  disciples  around  her,  a  few  at  a 
mme,  and  having  herself  learned  their  language, 
so  as  tp  understand  them,  and  speak  passably, 
sfie  instructs  them  and  makes  teachers  of  these 
disciples.  There  is  the  lounge  and  the  chair, 
there  the  cook  stove  and  the  table,  there,  in 
another  room,  the  little  cabinet  organ,  and  a  few 
benches.  So  is  everything  about  this  little 
teacher,  the  simplest  in  style  and  work.  The 


72  History  of  Indian  Missions 

only  Nez  Perces  books  thus  far  are  the  Gospel 
of  Matthew,  translated  by  Mr.  Spalding,  and 
the  Gospel  of  John,  by  James  Reuben,  the  In 
dian  assistant  teacher,  who  was  aided  in  the 
translation  by  Rev.  Mr.  Ainslie.  It  is  evident 
these  must  be  largely  used  in  this  work  of  in 
struction.  I  hear  that  the  Indian  Department 
is  afraid  that  Miss  McBeth  is  teaching  theology, 
and  order  her  back  to  the  rudiments.  Certainly 
not  theology  in  the  way  of  "  isms  "  of  any  kind, 
I  am  ready  to  affirm.  I  told  her  to  call  it  the- 
ophily,  if  a  high  sounding  name  was  needed  for 
God's  love.  For  as  Jonah,  the  Sub-Chief,  brok 
enly  said,  '  It  makes  Indians  stop  buying  and 
selling  wives  ;  stop  gambling  and  horse  racing 
for  money ;  stop  getting  drunk  and  running 
about;  stop  all  time  lazy,  and  make  them  all 
time  work. '  It  is  filling  this  charming  little 
village  with  houses,  and  though  she  cannot 
visit  them,  her  pupils'  houses  are  becoming  neat 
and  cleanly.  The  wife  is  becoming  industrious 
within  doors,  sews,  knits  and  cooks.  The 
fences  are  up,  the  fields  are  planted.  Oh,  that 
men  could  see  that  this  faithful  teaching  has 
the  speedy  effect  to  change  the  heart  of  the  in 
dividual  man;  then  all  the  fruits  of  civilization 
begin  to  follow." 

Some  of  her  class  were  looking  forward  to 
the  ministry,  and  in  June,  1877,  three  of  them, 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  73 

Robert  Williams,  James  Hines  and  Archie  Law 
yer,  visited  Portland,  Oregon,  and  Puget  Sound 
— the  first  time  they  had  seen  a  town  of  more 
than  1,500  people.  During  their  stay  in  Port 
land  they  were  examined  by  a  committee  ap 
pointed  by  the  Oregon  Presbytery  and  licensed 
to  preach.  They  made  short  addresses  at  Port 
land  and  Olympia,  W.  T.,  were  well  received 
by  those  they  met,  and  received  some  flatter 
ing  notices  from  the  press. 

Their  visit  to  Oregon  was  also  very  bene 
ficial  to  their  people,  as  they  carried  back  in 
formation  which  was  received  with  more  cre 
dence  than  when  told  them  by  the  whites. 
They  were  able  to  converse  in  English,  translate 
English  into  Nez  Perce,  and  Nez  Perce  into 
English,  and  write  in  both  languages. 

After  this  came  the  war  with  Joseph  and  his 
band,  in  which  some  of  them  aided  our  troops 
very  materially,  as  recorded  in  Chapter  VI, 
after  which  they  settled  into  regular  Christian 
work. 

*  Robert  Williams,  who  afterwards  was  ordain 
ed,  has  charge  of  the  church  at  Kamiah,  which 
numbers  over  200  members.  "  He  alone,"  writes 
Miss  McBeth,  "I  count  ample  reward  for  five 
years  of  isolation.  He  is  a  born  pastor,  as  well 
as  successful  preacher,  and  his  people  love  him 
much  and  trust  him."  In  1880  the  members  of 


74  History  of  Indian  Missions 

his  church  raised  $125,  with  which  a  three- 
hundred  pound  bell  was  purchased  for  their 
church,  and  they  also  contributed  $100  to  their 
pastor's  salary. 

James  Hines  has  a  small  congregation  of  his 
own  people,  on  the  north  fork  of  the  Clear- 
water. 

Archie  Lawyer,  together  with  James  Reuben 
and  Mark  Williams,  left  their  homes  and  went 
to  the  Indian  Territory,  as  missionaries  to  Jo 
seph's  band,  who  had  been  sent  there  after  the 
war.  The  first  went  to  preach  to  the  Indians, 
the  second  as  school  teacher,  and  the  third  as 
his  assistant,  and  also  as  teacher  of  agriculture 
and  civil  government.  The  latter  plays  well 
on  the  cabinet  organ,  and  is  a  good  singer. 
All  were  employed  by  Government.  After  re 
maining  a  time,  Archie  Lawyer  and  Mark  Wil 
liams  were  obliged  to  return  to  their  homes, 
on  account  of  long-continued  ill  health,  chills 
and  the  like,  but  James  Reuben  still  continues, 
with  good  results  ;  the  Sabbath  being  well 
observed;  the  school  kept  in  successful  opera 
tion;  and  a  good  share  of  the  band  drawn  away 
from  the  influence  of  the  medicine  men,  and  a 
church  organized. 

A  committee  appointed  by  the  Presbytery 
of  Emporia,  to  visit  the  Nez  Perces  Indians  in 
the  Indian  Territory,  organized  there  the  Pres- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  75 

byterian  church  of  Oakland,  with  93  members. 
On  October  2ist,  1880,  Rev.  S.  B.  Fleming 
baptized  59  of  them,  and  on  Sabbath,  Novem 
ber  7th,  34  more,  and  ordained  three  elders. 

Miss  McBeth  gathered  a  second  class  of  nine 
young  men,  who  were  studying  in  order  to  be 
come  teachers  and  preachers.  Most  of  these,  like 
the  first  class,  were  married  and  were  support 
ing  themselves  and  their  families  by  their 
work,  while  studying.  The  work  was  strength 
ened  by  the  addition  of  Miss  Kate  C.  McBeth, 
is  teacher  of  the  women,  who  not  only  imparts 
a  knowledge  of  books,  but  also  that  knowledge 
which  makes  a  wife  a  true  help-meet  for  her 
husband.  Both  are  now  under  commission  from 
the  Presbyterian  Women's  Board  of  Missions. 

About  the  latter  part  of  1878,  Rev.  G.  L.  Def- 
fenbaugh  was  sent  by  the  same  Board  to  take 
charge  of  the  whole  Christian  work  in  the  tribe. 
Since  that  time  he  has  managed  affairs  with 
a  clear  head  and  an  even  hand. 

When  Father  Spalding  worked  among  them 
during  the  few  years  previous  to  his  death,  al 
though  he  baptized  nearly  700,  yet  he  organ 
ized  no  formal  church.  As  there  has  been  some 
excitement  in  his  work,  a  "  weeding  out "  process 
was  necessary.  When  this  had  been  accom 
plished,  after  Mr.  Deffenbaugh's  arrival,  two 
churches  were  formed;  one  at  Lapwai,  with  a 


76  History  of  Indian  Missions 

membership  of  100,  and  the  other  at  Kamiah, 
numbering  203  members.  By  September,  1880, 
75'  more  were  added,  making  a  total  member 
ship  of  378  in  the  tribe,  having  two  church 
buildings. 

The  scholars  have  varied  in  numbers  from 
being  merely  in  a  school  on  paper  in  1871,  to 
124  in  1872;  48  in  1878;  and  34  in  1880;  the  de 
crease  during  the  last  year  being  accounted  for 
in  a  great  measure  by  the  burning  of  the  school- 
house  at  Lapwai.  At  first  it  was  conducted  by 
Mr.  Spalding  in  the  native  language  of  the  In 
dians,  but  during  most  of  the  time  since  the  es 
tablishment  of  the  agency  it,  as  all  other  Gov 
ernment  schools  on  the  Pacific  Coast  among 
the  Indians,  has  been  taught  in  English,  so  that 
1 10  of  them  can  read.  The  school  has  been  in 
charge  of  Mr.  P.  B.  Whitman,  a  nephew  of  Dr. 
M.  Whitman,  who  has  been  in  the  country  37 
years,  a  large  portion  of  the  time  being  among 
the  Indians. 

The  amount  raised  by  farming  has  also  varied 
at  different  times.  In  1847,  when  the  first  mis 
sion  was  broken  up,  the  wheat  harvested  was 
counted  by  thousands  of  bushels.  During  1 861 , 
1862  and  1863,  while  the  mining  excitement  of 
Orofino,  Florence,  and  other  camps  near  them, 
was  at  its  height,  they  furnished  a  large  amount 
of  produce  and  vegetables  to  the  miners.  In 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  77 

1871,  2,807  Indians  were  reported  as  culti 
vating  1,055  acres,  and  raising  nearly  20,000 
bushels  of  wheat,  corn,  oats,  and  potatoes,  and 
owning  9,000  horses,  and  1,250  cattle.  In 
1880,  while  the  number  of  Indians  reported 
was  only  1,208,  yet  the  acreage  had  increased 
to  3,780,  more  than  600  being  broken  during 
that  year,  and  about  48, 500  bushels  of  grain  and 
vegetables  raised.  The  horses  and  mules  had 
increased  to  about  13,000,  and  the  cattle  to 
3,780. 

Further,  they  have  also  about  3,000  fruit  trees 
growing  on  the  reservation,  and  some  nurseries; 
that  of  one  Indian  containing  2,000  small  trees. 
Ninety  per  cent,  of  their  subsistence  is  gained 
from  civilized  pursuits,  and  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  them  clothe  in  citizens'  dress. 

The  decrease  in  the  number  of  Indians  during 
that  period  is  in  a  great  measure  due  to  the 
removal  of  Joseph's  band  to  the  Indian  terri 
tory,  and  to  the  fact  that  some  who  were  wan 
derers,  and  some  who  had  entered  land  for  a 
homestead,  and  others,  numbering  500  in  all, 
were  off  the  reservation. 

The  Spokanes. — These  Indians  live  in  north 
eastern  Washington,  and  number  about  685 
persons.  The  early  mission  among  them  was 
closed  in  June,  1848,  with  no  Indian  as  a  mem 
ber  of  the  church.  It  was  discouraging.  In 


78  History  of  Indian  Missions 

October,  1847,  Mrs.  Eells  wrote:  "We  have 
been  here  almost  nine  years,  and  have  not  been 
permitted  to  hear  the  cries  of  one  penitent,  or 
the  songs  of  one  redeemed  soul.  We  often  ask 
ourselves  the  question,  Why  is  it  ?  Yet  we 
labor  on,  hoping  and  waiting,  and  expecting 
that  the  seed,  though  long  buried,  will  spring 
up  and  bear  fruit.  We  feel  increasingly  inter 
ested  in  the  work,  and  though  we  do  not  see 
the  immediate  fruit  of  our  labor,  we  cannot  find 
it  in  our  hearts  to  leave  our  people.  We  can 
not  say  that  they  have  persecuted  us,  so  that 
we  should  be  authorized  'to  flee  to  another  city.' 
They  listen  to  the  word  respectfully,  but  it  ap 
pears  to  produce  no  saving  effect." 

Facts  afterwards  seemed,  however,  to  say 
that,  although  none  were  members  of  the  visible 
church,  some  were  members  of  the  invisible  one. 

In  1851  some  of  them  made  a  journey  of 
about  400  miles  to  Oregon  City,  to  ask  for  their 
teachers  to  return.  About  1855,  a  company  of 
men  went  from  near  Mr.  Eells'  residence  to  the 
Colville  mines,  and  in  doing  so  it  was  neces 
sary  to  pass  through  the  Spokane  country. 
When  they  reached  the  Spokane  River,  they 
had  no  means  of  crossing,  but  having  found 
some  of  these  Indians  near  by,  their  help  was 
asked.  When  the  Indians  learned  that  the  men 
were  aquainted  with  Mr.  Eells  they  were  glad 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  79 

to  aid  all  they  could;  indeed,  it  seemed  as  if 
they  could  not  do  too  much  for  their  white 
friends.  When  they  were  across  the  river  it 
was  time  for  a  meal,  and  when  it  was  ready  the 
whites  asked  the  chief  to  eat  with  them,  as  he 
had  been  of  such  service  to  them.  The  chief 
waited  before  beginning  and  looked  as  if  he  ex 
pected  something.  The  white  men  looked  at 
him,  but  could  not  comprehend  what  was 
wanted,  and  after  a  little  of  this  singular  look 
ing  at  each  other  the  whites  began  to  eat.  The 
chief  then  bowed  his  head  and  asked  a  blessing. 
This  was  what  he  had  been  looking  and  wait 
ing  for.  The  white  men,  in  relating  it  to  Mr. 
Eells  afterwards,  said  :  "  Those  Indians  made 
us  ashamed  of  ourselves — they  were  better 
Christians  than  we  were." 

In  1855-56  the  Yakama  war  occurred,  in 
which  that  band  among  whom  missionary 
labor  had  been  spent  took  no  part,  as  related 
in  Chapter  VI. 

In  1859,  as  soon  as  the  country  east  of  the 
Cascades  was  declared  open  for  settlement,  Mr. 
Eells  visited  Walla  Walla,  which  is  about  150 
miles  south  of  his  former  station.  The  next 
year  he  moved  there,  where  he  remained  until 
1872.  During  all  those  years  he  received  fre 
quent  visits  from  these  Indians,  who  came  to 
him  to  obtain  more  instruction.  In  1862  he 


8o  History  of  Indian  Missions 

spent  a  Sabbath  among  them  and  then  they 
talked  well.  Some  of  them  came  fifty  miles 
to  hear  him. 

During  several  seasons  a  number  of  them 
went  to  Walla  Walla  to  work,  in  order  that 
they  might  receive  more  religious  instruc 
tion.  When  there,  many  of  them  attended  the 
Congregational  Church,  for  although  they  could 
not  understand  the  English  language,  yet  they 
said  :  "We  like  to  be  here,  because  it  is  God's 
house,  and  we  know  that  God  is  being  talked 
about  and  worshiped."  After  church  Mr.  Eells 
regularly  met  a  Bible-class  of  them  in  the  Sab 
bath-school,  where  they  received  instruction 
and  sang  in  their  own  language  a  hymn  which 
Mr.  Eells  had  prepared  for  them  about  20  years 
previous.  . 

When  the  peace  policy  was  adopted  in  1871, 
these  Indians  were  put  in  charge  of  the  Colville 
Agency,  though  they  were  not  removed  to 
the  reservation.  This  agency  was  assigned  to 
the  Catholics.  The  majority  of  the  Indians 
connected  with  it  belonged  to  that  church. 
Some  years  previous  to  this,  a  Catholic  mis 
sion  was  established  about  forty  miles  above 
the  old  mission  station  at  Tshimakain,  and  a 
number  of  converts  were  made  to  their  faith. 
But  the  Protestant  portion  would  not  accept 
the  Catholic  teachings;  and  as  an  Indian  in  his 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  81 

ignorance  cannot  be  conservative,  the  feeling 
between  the  two  factions  is  said  to  have  been 
about  as  bitter  as  between  Orangemen  and 
Ribbonmen,  and  for  a  time  trouble  was  appre 
hended  between  them. 

In  1872,  Mr.  Eells  house  was  burned  at  Walla 
Walla,  and  he  removed  to  the  residence  of  his 
son  on  Puget  Sound,  out  of  their  reach.  As 
they  now  despaired  of  getting  any  more  in 
struction  from  him,  and  as  the  Catholic  pres 
sure  was  very  strong,  the  Protestant  portion 
sent  deputations  to  Mr.  Spalding,  then  among 
the  Nez  Perces,  to  go  and  preach  to  them.  He 
accepted  the  invitation,  and  in  1874  visited 
them,  and  without  organizing  any  church,  he 
baptized  253.  Over  100  more  were  baptized 
after  his  death. 

In  the  summer  of  1874  Mr.  Spalding  died,  but 
so  strong  was  the  aversion  of  these  Indians  to 
the  Catholic  influence  that  they  would  not  send 
their  children  to  the  agency  school,  hence  the 
agent  made  application  for  a  Protestant  teacher 
to  be  furnished  them.  In  answer  to  this  request 
Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley,  who  had  been  a  teacher 
and  missionary  among  the  Nez  Perces  till 
July,  1872,  went  among  them  in  1874,  where  he 
has  since  resided. 

The  year  after  he  went  there  the  Indi 
ans  built  a  house  for  him,  and  also  a  school- 


82  History  of  Indian  Missions 

house,  without  any  assistance  from  Govern 
ment.  William  Three  Mountains,  who,  in 
the  early  history  of  the  mission,  more  than  30 
years  previous,  had  been  in  Mr.  Walker's  family 
for  two  years,  gave  his  whole  crop  of  wheat 
for  the  year,  his  most  important  article  of  food, 
for  the  latter  building. 

Mr.  Eells,  as  has  been  stated,  moved  out  of 
their  reach  in  1872  ;  they,  however,  were  not 
out  of  his  reach.  When  he  heard  of  the  re 
markable  work  among  them,  he  felt  a  desire 
again  to  visit  them;  hence  in  1874  he  spent  a 
few  months  in  a  journey  and  visit,  traveling 
for  this  purpose  about  a  thousand  miles  on 
horseback,  and  crossing  the  Cascade  Mountains 
twice. 

The  next  year  he  made  a  somewhat  similar 
journey,  and  spent  six  weeks  with  them,  par 
ticipating  in  twenty-four  public  religious  ser 
vices  at  five  different  places.  "  Generally,"  he 
says,  in  a  report  to  the  Congregational  As 
sociation  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  in  1876, 
"the  number  present  varied  from  60  to  360. 
At 'a  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  there 
were  60  communicants;  I  made  note  of  the  pro 
priety  of  language  used  in  prayer.  Mr.  Cowley 
reports  at  a  late  communion -service,  108  com 
municants.  During  the  past  winter  a  school  of 
40  scholars  was  taught ;  with  diminishing  num- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  83 

bers  it  was  continued  until  April.  They  sub 
sist  much  as  they  did  35  years  ago,  hence  their 
migratory  practices  still  continue,  slightly 
changed.  When  food  fails  they  move  to  new 
root  grounds,  and  take  their  children  with 
them." 

No  treaty  has  ever  been  made  with  these  In 
dians,  but  in  1872  a  reservation,  which  was 
large,  and  which  embraced  with  them  many 
other  Indians,  was  established  by  an  order  from 
the  President.  The  agency  was,  however,  60 
miles  from  them,  and  consequently  they  have 
not  received  as  much  civilizing  aid  from  it  as 
they  would  have  done  had  they  been  nearer. 
Their  country,  too,  is  not  very  suitable  to  ag 
riculture;  hence  they  have  not  progressed  in 
this  respect,  as  they  would  have  done  under 
more  favorable  circumstances. 

The  great  difficulty  of  late  with  these  Indians 
has  been  in  regard  to  their  land,  as  no  treaty 
has  been  made  with  them,  and  they  have  re 
ceived  no  equivalent  for  what  they  once  pos 
sessed.  Says  Rev.  H.  T.  Cowley,  in  a  letter  to 
the  Advanced  December  pth,  1880  : 

"  In  1877  the  Government  sent  a  commission 
to  locate  them  on  a  reservation.  The  council 
resulted  unsatisfactorily  to  the  Indians,  and  they 
yielded  to  discouragement  and  alienation  from 
the  Government,  relaxed  their  efforts  at  self- 


84  History  of  Indian  Missions 

improvement,  and  in  their  disappointment  and 
dejection  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  vile  beings 
who  stand  ready,  on  the  whole  frontier,  to  drag 
the  Indians  down  to  their  own  level  by  vend 
ing  them  whisky. 

"  A  second  effort  was  made  in  1879  t°  induce 
them  to  go  upon  one  of  the  reservations  in 
Eastern  Washington.  Gen.  O.  O.  Howard  and 
Gov.  E.  P.  Ferry  were  appointed  to  the  task  of 
inducing  them  to  unite  with  the  famous  "  Chief 
Moses  "  in  locating  on  a  reservation  which  had 
just  been  granted  him  west  of  the  Okinakin 
River.  But  the  Spokanes  simply  saw  in  the 
proposal  a  plan  of  Moses  to  subjugate  the  minor 
chiefs  and  arrogate  to  himself  the  supreme 
chieftainship  of  the  entire  region.  Several  of 
Moses'  Indians  obtained  whisky  during  the  ses 
sion  of  the  council,  and  riotously  proclaimed 
the  Spokanes  as  the  future  slaves  of  their  great 
chief.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  matters  were 
made  worse.  Still  the  Spokanes  were  unwilling 
to  believe  that  some  honorable  provision  would 
not  be  made  for  them  by  the  Government. 

"  This  year  they  have  been  visited  by  Col. 
H.  Clay  Wood  as  a  special  agent  of  the  Interior 
Department  to  induce  them  to  locate  upon  some 
reservation  or  take  up  land  in  severalty.  The 
only  inducements  he  could  offer  them  were 
that  on  a  reservation  they  would  be  compar- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  85 

atively  exempt  from  the  molestation  of  vicious 
whites,  and  farther  out  of  the  reach  of  whisky, 
and  that  in  taking  land  under  the  Indian 
homestead  act,  they  had  the  privilege  of  paying 
the  land  fees  like  white  people.  This  also 
failed  in  the  solution  of  the  question. 

"In  the  month  of  September,  Gen.  Howard, 
on  the  occasion  of  finding  a  suitable  location  for 
a  new  post  in  the  Spokane  country,  accom 
panied  by  the  writer  and  a  scout,  made  a  week's 
tour  among  their  various  camps,  traveling  about 
1 50  miles.  The  object  of  the  General  was  to 
show  his  solicitude  for  their  welfare,  and  dis 
abuse  them  of  the  impression  that  he  sought  to 
drive  them  from  their  country,  or  shed  their 
blood."  *  * 

A  little  later  he  adds  :  "  In  a  former  let 
ter  I  sketched  briefly  the  missionary  efforts 
among  the  Spokane  Indians,  and  some  of  the 
results  and  obstacles.  I  aimed  to  show  that 
not  only  a  feeble  response  had  been  made  by 
church  and  Government,  to  their  creditable  ef 
forts  at  self-improvement,  but  that  they  were 
directly  checked  and  disheartened  by  the  action 
of  the  Government  on  several  occasions  to  force 
them  on  to  a  foreign  reservation,  without  any 
prospect  of  provision  for  improvement  or  com 
pensation  for  the  territory  they  would  have  to 
relinquish.  Still,  though  confused  and  indig- 


86  History  of  Indian  Missions 

nant,  they  are  unwilling  to  believe  that  '  Wash 
ington,'  as  they  style  the  Government,  will 
countenance  any  injustice  toward  his  red  chil 
dren.  And  so  the  majority  have  for  the  present 
abandoned  their  efforts  at  improvement,  and 
trust  that  *  Washington  '  will  yet  get  accurate 
knowledge  of  their  sad  condition  and  deal  hon 
orably  with  them.  But  a  small  number  are  too 
radical  to  wait.  They  have  learned  the  pro 
verbial  tardiness  of  the  Government  and  look 
only  for  Divine  help.  Actuated  by  Christian 
principle,  and  accepting  what  the  Government 
has  done  for  them  in  the  provisions  of  the  In 
dian  homestead  law,  they  have  withdrawn 
from  the  rest  of  the  tribe  and  have  located  on 
farms,  and  are  working  out  their  own  problem. 
The  leader  in  this  movement,  a  chief  and  elo 
quent  preacher,  is  William  Three  Mountains. 
Although  of  feeble  frame  and  consumptive,  he 
is  a  man  of  remarkable  faith  and  unceasing  act 
ivity.  With  a  following  of  only  three  families 
they  separated  themselves  from  their  tribe,  a 
very  unpopular  act  under  any  circumstances, 
and  put  thirteen  miles  between  them  and  the 
ancestral  camping-grounds.  This  was  nearly 
three  years  ago,  and  in  the  face  of  great  hard 
ships  and  no  little  persecution  from  their  rela 
tives  and  former  friends,  they  have  increased  to 
fourteen  families,  and  with  some  aid  from  the 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  87 

Government,  after  hearing  of  their  creditable 
enterprise,  and  under  the  superintendence  of 
the  writer,  they  have  nearly  completed  a  school- 
house  with  rather  humble  quarters  for  the  teach 
er,  besides  several  log  dwellings,  barns  and 
root-houses  for  themselves.  School  is  in  ses 
sion  with  fourteen  scholars,  and  a  prospect,  as 
soon  as  the  severity  of  the  winter  is  over,  of 
twenty-five  or  thirty  more  from  the  tribe,  show 
ing  the  weakening  of  the  prejudice  on  their  part 
against  Three  Mountains'  movement,  and  their 
anxiety  to  have  their  children  educated,  as  no 
inducements  of  food  and  clothing  can  yet  be 
offered. 

"The  religious  meetings  are  faithfully  attend 
ed  by  every  man,  woman  and  child  who  can 
leave  their  dwellings.  Twenty-three  were  in 
attendance  at  prayer-meeting  this  bitterly  cold 
evening,  one  coming  on  foot  nearly  three  miles 
through  two  feet  of  snow,  and  nearly  all  took 
part." 

There  is  another  colony  of  the  lower  Spo- 
kanes  about  ten  miles  west  of  Walker's  prairie, 
under  the  charge  of  Lot.  The  patriarch  Ah- 
ma-mer-a-kin  is  their  preacher.  To  themselves 
they  are  gratifyingly  successful,  and  in  the  es 
timation  of  others  they  are  worthy  of  encour 
agement.  They  have  over  1,000  acres  under 
fence.  Says  Rev.  C.  Eells  in  1880  :  "Limited 


88  History  of  Indian  Missions 

assistance  has  been  afforded  them.  One  old 
Indian  said  to  me  :  '  I  purchased  my  plow.' 
About  dark  his  son  came  from  the  harvest  field. 
He  said  :  '  I  am  tired.  It  is  good  to  be  tired. ' 
He  evidently  was  pleased  to  become  weary  in 
such  employment.  At  two  different  times  dur 
ing  the  early  autumn  [of  1879]  I  was  at  that 
place.  Work  in  the  erection  of  a  church  build 
ing  was  progressing.  I  met  Ah-ma-mer-a-kin 
going  to  timber  with  horse  and  harness  to  haul 
material  with  which  to  forward  the  building. " 

Owing  to  their  scattered  condition,  and  lack 
of  a  missionary  who  could  go  to  all  their  vari 
ous  settlements,  they  have  not  progressed  in 
religion,  during  the  last  few  years,  as  could 
have  been  hoped.  Some  who  have  been  bap 
tized,  have  partially  re-adopted  their  old  re 
ligion,  and  yet,  as  Rev.  C.  Eells  says,  in  closing 
his  centennial  sketch  of  the  missions  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  on  this  north-west  coast :  "  The  earlier 
and  the  latter  sowing  of  the  seed  of  gospel 
truth,  among  the  Spokane  Indians,  has  produced 
abundant  harvest." 

The  Yakama  Agency. — In  1855  a  treaty  was 
made  with  about  fourteen  tribes  of  Eastern 
Washington,  which  was  ratified  four  years  later 
and  they  were  placed  on  the  Yakama  reserva 
tion,  which  is  in  the  central  part  of  the  Terri- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  89 

tory.  They  now  number  3,930  Indians.  This 
has  been  called  the  model  agency  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  many  who  are  enemies  of  the  peace 
policy  have  acknowledged  the  success  of  this 
agency.  This  has  been  due  to  three  causes : 
to  faithful  continued  Christian  teaching,  in 
cluding  that  of  civilized  labor,  with  a  man  at 
the  helm  who  has  clung  to  the  work  for  twenty 
years,  when  allowed  to  do  so  ;  to  the  fact  that 
the  reservation  during  its  early  years  was  away 
from  much  contact  with  worthless  whites  ;  and 
that  it  is  largely  good  agricultural  and  grazing 
land. 

As  the  Methodist  Episcopal'church  sent  the 
first  missionaries  to  the  Indians  on  this  coast, 
it  was  natural,  when  their  first  mission  in  the 
Willamette  valley  failed  through  a  variety  of 
causes,  that  they  should  look  elsewhere  for 
similar  work. 

In  September,  1 860,  Rev.  James  H.  Wilbur, 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  who  had 
come  to  the  coast  in  1847,  went  to  the  agency 
as  superintendent  of  instruction.  He  remained 
in  this  position  for  about  a  year,  when  he  and 
all  the  Christian  employees  were  turned"  off  by 
the  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  but  in  six 
months  a  change  took  place  and  Mr.  Wilbur 
was  returned  to  the  agency.  At  the  time  he 
was  turned  off,  says  Mr.  Wilbur,  "we"  (referring 


90  History  of  Indian  Missions 

to  the  religious  teachers)  "were  treated  as 
dogs,"  yet  he  afterwards  said  that  he  could  see 
how  it  had  all  been  overruled  for  good.  In  June, 
1864,  he  was  appointed  Agent,  a  position  he 
has  held  ever  since,  except  when  the  military 
had  charge  of  the  Indians  from  September,  1869, 
to  January,  1871. 

He  was  a  man  who,  notwithstanding  the 
popular  opinion  that  the  Indian  is  doomed  to 
extermination,  and  that  all  attempts  to  make 
anything  more  of  him  than  an  ignorant  savage 
are  vain  and  foolish,  took  direct  issue  with  this 
idea.  He  believed  in  the  manhood  of  the  In 
dian,  and  in  the  possibility  of  elevating  him  to 
a  high  state  of  civilization,  and  that  notwith 
standing  he  is  ignorant,  treacherous,  and  des 
titute  of  morality,  yet  that  a  moral  character 
could  be  given  to  him,  and  that  the  first  re 
quisite  in  this  work  was  the  practice  of  the 
Christian  virtues  by  himself  in  his  intercourse 
with  them.  He  was  a  man  who  could  manage 
the  Indians  "  in  a  kindly  and  benevolent  spirit, 
yet  with  firmness  and  without  fear." 

When  Mr.  Wilbur  first  went  there  he  found 
the  Indians  very  low,  as  low,  to  use  his  expres 
sion,  as  Indians  generally  become,  without  go 
ing  to  the  bottomless  pit ;  living  in  a  most 
squalid  manner,  and  with  very  little,  if  any, 
desire  for  work  or  knowledge  of  it.  "  They  had 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  91 

been  taken  from  the  war  path,  gathered  upon  the 
reserve,  fed  at  great  expense  by  Government, 
clothed  with  annuity  blankets  and  goods  while 
living  in  idleness,  using  the  goods  furnished  as 
a  gambling  fund,  drinking  whisky,  running 
horses  on  the  Sabbath,  stealing  each  other's 
wives,  and  carrying  out  the  practices  of  low, 
degraded  white  men  to  great  perfection."* 

Believing  that  the  Bible  and  plow  should  go 
hand  in  hand  in  the  work,  he  felt  that  his  posi 
tion  as  Superintendent  of  Instruction,  when  he 
first  went  to  the  reservation,  meant  instruction 
out  of  school  as  well  as  in  it.  Therefore  he  pro 
posed  to  some  of  the  better  Indians  to  go  into 
the  woods  and  cut  some  saw-logs,  and,  as  they 
did  not  know  how,  he  went  with  them,  camp 
ing  out  with  his  wife  at  one  time  for  seventeen 
days.  They  thus  cut  about  8,000  feet  of  logs. 
Then  he  showed  them  how  to  place  them  upon 
the  trucks  and  take  them  to  mill.  Afterwards 
he  sawed  them  into  lumber. 

He  further  taught  them  how  to  plow.  He  had 
one  yoke  of  tame  cattle.  The  other  cattle  were 
as  wild  as  the  Indians,  and  the  Indians  were  as 
wild  as  the  cattle,  but,  with  one  or  two  school 
boys  to  each  ox,  he  managed  to  keep  them 
within  an  eighty-acre  field,  and  to  plow  a  very 
crooked  furrow.  Stripped  to  his  shirt  and 

*  Report  of  the  Commission  of  Indian  Affairs,  1878,  page  141. 


92  History  of  Indian  Missions 

pants  he  worked  side  by  side  with  them  ;  he 
held  the  plow  and  tilled  some  hundreds  of 
acres,  and,  to  show  them  how,  he  himself  also 
sowed  the  seed. 

At  the  same  time  knowledge  of  books  and  the 
Bible  was  also  imparted,  and  before  the  year  1865 
forty  persons  were  in  full  connection  with  the 
church,  four  of  them  being  licensed  to  preach, 
and  in  that  year  eighty  more  were  added  on  pro 
bation.  The  work  began  with  only  two  or  three 
of  the  more  intelligent  and  influential  ores, 
who  led  the  way  and  others  followed.  In  1866 
they  were  reported  as  having,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  the  one  at  Tulalip,  the  only  Indian  school 
in  the  Territory,  and  furnishing  the  only  exam 
ple  of  encouragement  to  further  effort  for  their 
civilization.  The  reason  given  was,  that  the 
agent  and  employees  made  it  a  matter  of  con 
science  to  set  them  a  good  example. 

The  Hon.  Vincent  Colyer  in  his  visit  to  these 
Indians  in  1871  said:  "Leaving  the  Indians 
at  the  top  of  the  bank  at  dusk,  and  coming 
down  to  the  edge  of  the  water,  we  found  a 
wagon-load  of  small  groceries  and  other  goods 
scattered  along  the  shore.  The  owner,  a 
trader  from  the  interior,  leaving  them  there, 
crossed  the  river  with  us.  On  being  asked  if 
the  Indians  would  not  steal  them  he  replied  : 
*  No,  sir ;  if  all  the  white  men  were  on  one  side 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  93 

and  all  the  Indians  on  the  other,  I  would 
always  leave  my  goods  on  the  Indians'  side.' 
Mr.  Wilbur  informed  me  that,  although  the 
Indians  were  constantly  coming  and  going,  he 
did  not  use  locks  at  the  agency,  and  had  never 
lost  anything." 

The  Indians  were  at  that  time  divided  into 
three  classes — the  civilized  Christian  class,  who 
were  the  most  prosper©us  ;  a  few  Catholics,  a 
mission  of  that  church  having  been  established 
just  outside  of  the  reservation,  and  the  drum 
mers,  or  followers  of  Smohalla,  who  clung  to 
the  old  medicine  men,  but  who  were  gradually 
growing  weaker. 

One  hundred  more  united  with  the  church  in 
1872  ;  two  were  ordained  deacons,  Rev.  George 
Waters  and  Rev.  Thomas  Pearne,  and  six 
licensed  as  exhorters,  and  several  of  them  un 
dertook  missionary  work  among  the  Nez  Per- 
ces,  as  they  had  done  a  few  years  previous. 

This  delegation,  which  went  thus  to  labor, 
carried  a  letter,  of  which  the  following  are  given 
as  extracts,  from  Rev.  Thomas  Pearne,  who 
was  unable  to  go  on  account  of  illness,  to  young 
Timothy,  a  child  of  his  in  the  Gospel. 

"  Dear  Brother :  Are  you  going  on  striving 
to  live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  do  your  duty 
as  a  minister  of  His  Gospel  to  your  people  ? 
May  our  Heavenly  Father  bless  and  crown 


94  History  of  Indian  Missions 

your  labors  with  abundant  success.  Examine 
yourself  daily  to  see  whether  you  are  growing 
in  grace  ;  if  you  love  the  blessed  Saviour  more  ; 
if  you  are  growing  more  like  Him  in  your  dis 
position  and  temper  ;  if  you  say  nothing  but 
what  is  for  His  glory  in  your  talk  with  the 
brethren  and  those  who  make  no  profession  of 
religion  ;  and  if  you  feel  as  much  anxiety  for 
the  salvation  of  the  people  as  you  should  when 
you  consider  that  they  are  in  so  much  dan 
ger. 

"If  Christ  died  for  them  you  should  weep 
over  them  and  teach  them,  and  use  every  means 
that  love  for  their  souls  should  suggest  to  lead 
them  to  Jesus.  Let  your  people  see  that  you 
possess  that  love  which  Christ  felt  when  He 
gave  Himself  to  die  for  sinners.  If  we  are  His 
disciples  surely  we  should  be  like  Him,  and  the 
more  we  are  like  Him  and  preach  like  Him,  the 
more  influence  we  shall  have  with  those  to 
whom  we  preach,  for  they  will  see  that  what  is 
claimed  for  religion  is  realized  by  ourselves, 
and,  as  the  Apostle  Paul  says,  '  We  shall  be 
living  epistles  read  and  known  of  all  men.'  .  .  . 
We  always  succeed  better  when  we  put  our 
selves  down  on  a  level  with  our  fellow-sinners, 
for  whatsoever  difference  there  may  be  in  our 
relation  to  God,  it  is  all  owing  to  His  mercy 
and  grace.  Be  humble,  be  meek,  be  patient, 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  95 

be  loving  and  kind,  but  be  afraid  of  nothing  but 
sin." 

In  1879  the  Piute  and  Bannock  Indians,  num 
bering  543,  who  had  been  conquered  in  the 
Bannock  war  the  previous  summer,  were  re 
moved  to  this  reservation  from  the  Malheur 
Agency  and  vicinity,  with  the  hope  that  what 
had  been  accomplished  for  the  Yakama  Indi 
ans  would  also  be  done  for  them. 

By  1877  the  church  building  had  become  too 
small,  and  it  was  determined  to  erect  a  larger 
one  and  use  the  old  one  for  a  school-house. 
This  was  built  mainly  by  the  Indians,  with 
slight  assistance,  during  the  summer  of  1880, 
and  was  capable  of  holding  700  people.  It  is 
generally  filled  on  the  Sabbath  with  a  well- 
dressed  and  well-behaved  congregation.  Dur 
ing  1 880  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  probationers 
were  received  into  the  church. 

The  results,  as  summed  up  in  the  annual  re 
port  for  1880,  were  :  3,930  Indians,  of  whom 
3,320  wore  citizens'  clothes,  and  about  two- 
thirds  of  whom  were  on  the  reservation.  About 
1,200  male  Indians  were  engaged  in  civilized 
pursuits.  There  were  25  apprentices  to  the  vari 
ous  trades  ;  they  owned  280  houses.  95  children 
were  in  the  two  schools,  with  an  average  attend 
ance  of  70  ;  there  were  345  who  could  read,  70 
of  whom  had  learned  during  the  year.  They 


96  History  of  Indian  Missions 

had  8,000  acres  of  land  under  cultivation,  and 
during  the  year  they  had  raised  35,000  bushels  of 
wheat,  3, 350  of  oats,  barley  and  corn,  and  more 
than  5,000  of  vegetables.  They  had  also  cut  a 
thousand  tons  of  hay  and  375,000  feet  of  lum 
ber,  and  owned  17,000  horses  and  5,000  cattle. 
They  had  gained  seventy-six  per  cent,  of  their 
subsistence  from  labor  in  civilized  pursuits. 

The  head  blacksmith  was  a  native,  and  the 
saddler  had  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the 
best  in  the  county. 

Many  of  them  were  living  in  good  houses, 
painted  outside  and  inside,  with  furniture, 
chairs,  tables,  bedsteads,  cook  stoves,  mirrors, 
clocks,  watches,  crockery,  the  newspaper  and 
the  Bible.  They  also  owned  four  mowing  ma 
chines,  four  combined  reapers  and  mowers, 
about  a  hundred  plows,  as  many  sets  of  good 
harness,  seventy-five  wagons,  seventeen  bug 
gies,  and  twenty-two  sewing-machines. 

Let  us  in  closing  take  a  look  in  upon  affairs 
with  Gen.  O.  O.  Howard,  even  as  it  was  some 
years  ago.  "  To-morrow  is  Sunday.  Go  there 
with  me  to  the  Simcoe  church.  Who  are  all 
these  well-dressed  people,  with  short,  black 
hair  and  clean  faces  and  hands?  How  quiet 
and  orderly  ;  horses  hitched  to  the  fences,  or 
coming  from  different  directions,  women  and 
children  in  colors.  They  walk  in  and  arrange 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  97 

themselves  in  a  neat  church.  Not  a  tobacco 
stain  on  the  floor  ;  walls  papered,  seats  ar 
ranged  for  males  and  females  separately.  The 
school  girls  come  in  and  take  the  front  seats 
on  the  women's  side.  Look  at  them  a  moment. 
They  are  neatly  dressed  ;  they  made  their 
dresses  themselves.  How  happy  their  /aces, 
how  bright  their  eyes  !  They  speak  English. 
They  sing  our  songs  in  English  and  in  their 
own  tongue.  Visit  their  boarding-house.  They 
knit,  sew,  cook,  sweep,  and  do  all  household 
duties  under  the  care  and  instruction  of  the 
matron.  They  read,  they  write,  they  recite 
well  in  geography  and  arithmetic.  What 
more,  my  friend  ?  '  Oh,  that  may  be  so,  but 
how  about  those  already  grown  ?'  The  work 
is  slow,  to  be  sure.  But  listen  at  this  church 
to  this  universal  song  of  praise,  as  they  sing 

*  There   is   a  fountain  filled  with   blood,'   and 

*  Come,    Holy   Spirit,  heavenly   Dove.'      Hear 
man  after   man  and  woman  after  woman,  as 
they    rise   and   speak,     with    earnest   speech, 
with  brevity   and    simplicity,    in    Chinook,    in 
Klikitat  and  in  English,  it  does  not  matter  ; 
there  is   a   wonderful  similarity  in  those  lisp- 
ings  of  sorrow  or  joy,  of  fear  or  hope.     God 
knows  the  language  ;    so  do  we,    if  we  have 
ever  expressed  it,  or  seen  it  expressed  in  the 
eyes,  the  face,  the  motions  of  the  body — if  we 


98  History  of  Indian  Missions 

have  ever  heard  the  sweet  tones  of  hearts  that 
have  been  made  free  by  a  sense  of  Divine  for 
giveness.  Col.  Snap-Judgment,  you  can  talk 
on  railways,  steamboats  and  stages  ;  you  can 
gather  your  crowds  of  eager  listeners  wherever 
and  whenever  you  please,  and  demonstrate 
again  and  again  that  '  an  Indian  is  an  Indian,' 
and  therefore  there  is  no  hope  of  his  civiliza 
tion,  and  the  sooner  you  kill  him  the  better  for 
the  human  race;  but  I  tell  you  that  you  are 
blind.  You  have  not  been  to  the  Simcoe 
church,  and  sat  there  with  eyes  and  ears  open 
for  an  hour  and  a  half ;  if  you  had,  you  would 
say,  *  I  am  mistaken  ;  let  the  Indian  have  a 
new  heart,  and  let  the  children  be  taught,  and 
these,  like  the  rest  of  God's  immortal  creatures, 
are  capable  of  grand  results.'  Go  through  a 
few  of  those  humble  tenements,  and,  with  your 
old  heart  growing  tender  as  you  look,  notice 
the  neatness  of  the  front  room.  There  is  the 
Bible  on  the  shelf.  Peep  into  the  bedroom. 
What  !  clean  white  sheets  and  coverlids.  Yes  ! 
in  this  one  and  some  others.  Notice  the  kitch 
en  stove,  table,  dishes,  towels  and  what-not. 
'  There  must  be  white  blood.'  No,  not  a  drop  ; 
it  is  all  red  blood,  and  the  same  kind  that 

darkens  their  faces Christ   is  able  to 

save  to  the  uttermost,  even  the  lost.  It  is  too 
clearly  demonstrated  here  by  Father  Wilbur." 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  99 

And  now  for  the  secret  of  all  this.  Let  Mr. 
Wilbur  tell  it  in  a  story  to  Hon.  A.  B.  Meach- 
am. 

"  I  see  that  I'll  have  to  tell  you  of  a  dream 
I  had  many  years  ago.  I  was  going  around 
Cape  Horn  to  Oregon  in  1847.  The  trip  was 
monotonous.  I  was,  as  most  young  preachers 
will  be,  under  the  clouds.  I  did  not  always 
see  the  fruit  of  my  labors,  and  consequently  I 
was  somewhat  discouraged  at  times,  and  felt 
like  giving  up  the  work.  Upon  one  occasion, 
when  I  was  more  than  ordinarily  depressed,  I 
threw  myself  upon  my  bed  and  fell  fast  asleep. 

"  I  dreamed  as  I  lay  in  my  bunk,  that  I  went 
into  a  blacksmith's  shop,  thinking  to  while 
away  an  hour,  and  proposed  to  'blow  and  strike' 
for  the  smith.  He  seemed  to  be  pleased  with 
the  offer,  and  motioned  towards  the  handle  of 
the  bellows  ;  at  the  same  time  arranging  two 
heavy  pieces  of  iron  in  his  tongs,  he  placed 
them  in  the  forge,  and  carefully  heaped  upon 
them  a  pile  of  coals,  then  nodded  to  me  to 
start  the  bellows.  I  had  done  this  kind  of 
work  before  (in  fact  I  sometimes  go  now  into 
our  shop  at  Ya'-ka-ma,  and  blow  and  strike 
for  my  Indian  smith  when  he  is  short  of  help). 
I  dreamed  that  I  started  the  bellows,  and 
pumped  away  for  a  while,  expecting  to  see  the 
sparks  flying,  and  the  flame  bursting  from  the 


IOO  History  of  Indian  Missions 

forge,  but  no  flame  was  visible.  I  doubled  my 
stroke,  but  no  sparks  yet.  There  stood  the 
smith  with  folded  arms,  so  seemingly  uncon 
cerned,  that  I  stopped  blowing,  and  called  his 
attention  to  the  fact  that  there  seemed  to  be 
something  wrong.  He  quietly  answered,  'blow 
away.'  Again  I  plied  my  muscles  to  the  han 
dles  of  the  bellows,  and  doubled  my  stroke,  but 
still  no  fire.  Again  I  stopped  and  turned  to 
the  smith,  saying,  'I  ain't  going  to  blow  when 
it  don't  do  any  good.  It's  no  use  to  blow 
when  you  can't  see  any  fire.' 

"  'Blow  away,  young  man,  blow  away,'  said 
the  smith  in  a  gentle  voice. 

"'But  it  does  no  good,'  I  said;  'I  shan't 
blow  when  I  can't  see  any  fire.' 

"  *  Blow  away,  that's  your  business.  Blow 
away,  young  man.  I'll  tend  to  this  side  of  the 
forge.  It's  your  business  to  blow.  You're  en 
gaged  to  blow,  and  I  want  you  to  do  it,  and 
leave  the  balance  to  me.' 

"  Again  I  plied  my  skill  as  a  blower,  but 
could  see  no  sign  of  success.  He  encouraging 
ly  said,  'Blow,  young  man,  blow  a  little  longer.' 
And  I  did  blow  with  all  my  might,  hoping  to 
see  the  sparks  fly. 

"The  smith  deliberately  grasped  the  tongs, 
then  gave  them  a  quick  twist,  as  he  drew  the 
white  heated  mass  from  the  forge,  and  swung 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  101 

it  upon  the  anvil,  at  the  same  time  shouting, 
'Strike,  strike,  young  man,  strike.' 

"I  snatched  the  handle  of  the  sledge,  swung 
it  above  my  head,  and  brought  it  down  with  all 
my  might,  between  the  strokes  of  the  smith, 
the  sparks  flying  in  every  direction,  and  a  pret 
tier  weld  you  never  saw. 

"  *  Young  man,'  said  the  smith,  as  he  threw 
the  welded  iron  upon  the  floor,  and  straighten 
ed  his  back,  at  the  same  time  raking  great 
beads  of  sweat  from  his  brow  with  his  finger, 
'young  man,  you  came  pretty  near  losing  that 
heat  by  your  foolishness.  When  you  undertake 
to  blow,  blow.  It's  none  of  your  business, 
whether  you  see  the  fire  or  not.  It's  your  busi 
ness  to  blow,  and  ask  no  questions;'  and,"  con 
tinued  Mr.  Wilbur,  "I  awoke  to  find  myself  in  a 
great  perspiration.  I  have  been  blowing  and 
striking  ever  since. 

"  This  dream  has  had  something  to  do  with 
my  work  all  through  life.  I  saw  but  little 
proof  of  success  at  first  with  my  Indians,  but 
I  kept  on  blowing,  never  doubting  that  the  fire 
was  doing  all  right.  I  kept  on  with  my  work, 
and  now  hundreds  of  souls  each  Sabbath  attest 
that  beneath  apparent  darkness  and  gloom,  the  • 
work  was  going  on,  and  that  they  had  been 
welded  to  a  new  life,  a  higher  civilization."  * 

*  Council  Fire,  Jan.,   1879. 


IO2  History  of  Indian  Missions 


CHAPTER  III. 

LATER  MISSIONS  CONCLUDED — WARM  SPRINGS 
—  PUYALLUPS  —  SKOKOMISH  —  SILETZ — QUI- 
NAIELT — NEAH  BAY — KLAMATH. 

"  They  that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy." — Psalm  126:  5. 

Warm  Springs. — These  Indians  live  in  East 
ern  Oregon,  and  number  558.  They  belong  to 
five  tribes — the  Wascoes,  Warm  Springs,  Ten- 
inoes,  John  Days  and  Piutes;  the  first  two 
tribes  numbering  nearly  four-fifths  of  all.  The 
treaty  was  made  in  1855  and  ratified  in  1859, 
after  which  they  went  to  their  reservation. 

A  few  of  these  Indians  were  the  same  among 
whom  Rev.  H.  K.  W.  Perkins,  D.  Lee  and  oth 
ers  labored  at  the  Dalles  from  1838  until  the 
mission  was  closed  in  1847.  Captain  John 
Smith,  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church, 
went  among  them  as  their  agent,  March  31, 
1866.  He  has  been  called  the  Parson  Brown- 
low  of  the  Indian  service;  and,  although  over 
seventy  years  of  age,  is  still  their  agent,  having 
been  such  ever  since  he  entered  the  service, 
except  when  the  military  had  charge,  from  Au 
gust  31,  1869,  to  October  31,  1870. 

From  the  time  of  the  closing  of  the  mission 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  103 

at  the  Dalles,  in  1847,  until  Captain  Smith  took 
charge,  the  most  of  their  intercourse  with  the 
whites  had  been  with  such  a  class  as  to  de 
grade  them,  even  below  the  condition  in  which 
they  were  naturally  ;  so  that  Captain  Smith 
wrote  of  them  in  1874:  "  A  more  degraded  set 
of  beings,  I  am  sure,  did  not  exist  on  the 
earth.  .  .  .  The  mind  of  man  could  not  con 
ceive  that  human  beings  could  get  so  low  in 
the  scale  of  humanity  as  they  were;  and,  I  am 
sure,  if  they  had  been  left  to  the  instincts  of 
their  own  wild  savage  natures,  they  could  never 
have  been  so  low  down  as  they  were.  God's 
holy  Sabbath  was  set  apart  as  a  day  of  licen 
tiousness  and  debauchery.  Drinking  and  gam 
bling  had  become  common.  Their  women  were 
universally  unchaste,  and  were  taught  to  be 
lieve  that  lewdness  was  a  commendable  prac 
tice,  or  even  a  virtue.  Diseases  and  death  were 
entailed  on  their  posterity.  The  men  had  to 
submit  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  The  con 
sequence  was,  that  the  Indians  had  lost  all  con 
fidence  in  the  honesty  and  integrity  of  the 
white  men.  .  .  .  How  to  restore  the  lost  con 
fidence  seemed  a  herculean  task.  My  first 
work  was  to  get  rid  of  all  contaminating  influ 
ences,  by  discharging  bad  men  and  filling  their 
places  with  good,  moral  and  religious  persons. 
The  reformation  at  first  seemed  slow,  but  grad- 


104  History  of  Indian  Missions 

ually  increased  from  day  to  day.  I  was  soon 
able  to  start  a  Sabbath-school,  and  Divine  ser 
vices  were  held  every  Sabbath.  The  Indians, 
old  and  young,  were  placed  in  suitable  classes, 
and  appropriate  teachers  set  over  them.  Soon 
our  large  and  commodious  house  of  worship 
was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity  by  old  and 
young,  male  and  female,  all  seemingly  eager  to 
pick  up  the  crumbs  of  comfort  that  fell  from 
God's  holy  word;  and  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath 
this  was  continued. 

"  Then  came  a  change.  Officers  of  the  army 
were  ordered  to  relieve  Agents.  The  Sabbath 
was  soon  disregarded ;  Christian  and  moral 
men  were  compelled  to  resign.  Their  places 
were  filled  by  others  who  cared  for  nothing  of 
the  kind,  and  everything  was  relapsing  into  its 
former  condition. 

"  When  I  was  again  permitted  to  return,  I 
found  things  but  little  better  than  when  I  first 
came.  However,  I  immediately  set  to  work, 
and,  I  can  truly  say,  with  full  success.  We  have 
now  three  Bible  classes  that  read  a  verse 
around,  and  seem  to  comprehend  what  they 
read.  .  .  .  Many  who  cannot  read  can  quote  a 
large  amount  of  Scripture.  Quite  a  number, 
both  men  and  women,  lead  in  prayer,  and  many 
families  maintain  family  worship,  seemingly 
leading  Christian  lives.  We  have  nearly  one 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  105 

hundred  professing  to  lead  Christian  lives,  and 
we  seem  to  be  adding  from  day  to  day,  such  as 
I  hope  will  be  saved.  Our  day  school  has  been 
a  great  success  for  the  last  two  years — before 
that  it  was  a  failure."* 

Nearly  all  the  Christian  work,  previous  to 
1877,  was  done  by  the  Agent  and  employees, 
and  since  that  time  they  have  had  the  help  of  a 
missionary  for  only  a  part  of  the  time.  In  1871, 
when  the  various  agencies  were  assigned  to  the 
different  religious  denominations  in  order  that 
they  might  nominate  Agents,  this  one  fell  to 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church;  but,  owing  to 
Captain  Smith's  previous  work  and  influence 
over  those  Indians,  that  Church  wisely,  and  in 
a  Christian  spirit,  recommended  him;  nor  did 
it  seem  wise  for  them  to  send  a  missionary  of 
their  own  denomination,  and  as  it  had  been  as 
signed  to  that  Church,  the  United  Presbyter 
ians  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  send  a  missionary 
either.  Thus  affairs  continued  until  1877. 

At  that  time,  and  for  some  time  before,  the 
Christian  interests  of  the  Agency  seemed  to 
demand  a  change.  The  Methodists  did  not 
organize  a  church;  neither  did  the  Presbyte 
rians;  hence,  the  Christian  Indians  were  not 
gathered  in.  It  was  to  be  expected  that  they 
should  prefer  to  unite  with  the  Presbyterian 

*  Wigwam  and  Warpath,  p.  161. 


lo6  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Church,  since  they  had  become  Christians 
through  the  labors  of  its  members.  Conse 
quently,  at  that  time,  when  a  change  was  made, 
their  religious  care  was  wholly  transferred  to 
the  latter  Church. 

In  1878  Rev.  R.  N.  Fee  went  among  them, 
and  a  church  was  organized.  Previous  to  that 
time,  and  in  the  year  1875,  the  Rev.  T.  J.  Smith 
spent  one  Sabbath  in  a  month  at  the  Agency, 
but  as  he  was  able  to  be  there  for  only  one  day 
at  a  time  to  hold  public  service,  and  had  no 
proper  opportunity  for  private  intercourse  with 
his  hearers,  he  was  not  able  to  accomplish 
much.  Mr.  Fee  continued  to  act  as  missionary 
until  October,  1879,  when  he  removed,  and  the 
Sabbath  services  again  devolved  upon  the  Agent 
and  his  clerk,  Mr.  C.  H.  Walker.  Since  Mr. 
Fee's  departure,  though  quite  a  number  are 
ready  to  unite,  none  have  been  received  into 
the  church,  there  being  no  ordained  minister 
to  receive  them.  Others  who  were  willing  to 
unite  when  they  had  an  opportunity,  held 
back  because  they  were  required  to  give  an  in 
telligent  reason  of  their  faith  in  Christianity. 
Billy  Chinook,  or  rather  W.  C.  Parker,  who  re 
ceived  instruction  at  the  Dalles  more  than 
thirty-five  years  ago,  is  an  elder  in  the  church, 
and  always  takes  his  Testament  to  the  Agency, 
and  has  some  one  hear  him  read  and  expound 
the  lesson  to  him. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  107 

After  the  preaching  services  on  the  Sabbath, 
a  conference  is  held,  at  which  all  the  men  and 
women  are  requested  to  speak.  Strangers  are 
often  surprised  at  the  intelligence  shown  by 
those  who,  but  a  few  years  ago,  were  ignorant 
savages.  The  week  of  prayer,  in  which  they 
take  especial  interest,  has  been  of  great  bene 
fit  to  them.  The  Wasco  Indians  are  the 
leaders  in  Christian  advancement,  the  church 
members  being  nearly  all  from  that  tribe, 
while  the  whole  tribe  nominally  has  accepted 
the  truths  of  Christianity.  The  Warm  Springs 
and  John  Day's  Indians  live  further  from  the 
Agency — from  ten  to  fifteen  miles — and  have 
made  less  progress  both  in  civilization  and 
Christianity.  Missionary  work  has,  how'ever, 
been  extended  to  them,  "  they  have  heard  the 
word  of  God  gladly,"  and  good  results  are 
seen. 

Captain  Smith  writes,  January  31,  1 88 1,  in 
the  Council  Fire: 

"  Upon  my  advent  ....  there  were  many 
slaves,  who  had  been  taken  as  captives  in  war, 
or  purchased  from  other  tribes  of  Indians. 
The  first  thing  I  did  was  to  issue  a  general 
emancipation  proclamation,  and  set  them  at 
liberty.  This  was  an  extremely  unpopular 
movement  at  the  time.  ...  I  required  all  my 
employees  to  attend  public  worship,  and  to 


io8  History  of  Indian  Missions 

take  a  part  in  religious  exercises.  Progress  for 
some  time  was  very  slow  and  discouraging,  and 
many  times  I  was  disposed  to  abandon  the 
work,  and  certainly  should  have  done  so  if  it 
had  not  been  for  your  remonstrances  against  it, 
and  encouragement  to  go  on,  whenever  I  would 
mention  the  subject  to  you;  and  also  Father 
Brunot,  who  paid  us  a  visit  as  Inspector  of 
Agencies,  at  a  time  I  had  fully  concluded  to 
resign  my  position.  He  spoke  words  of  en 
couragement  and  comfort  to  me  when  I  felt 
the  most  despondent.  I  was  all  the  time  sup 
ported  and  encouraged  by  the  counsels  of  my 
wife,  who  was  quietly  and  gently,  but  effect 
ively,  laboring  with  the  women,  and  endeavor 
ing  td  elevate  them. 

"  Perhaps  right  here  was  the  commencement, 
and  the  first  fruit  of  our  missionary  labor.  A 
few  Indian  women  were  the  first  to  become  in 
terested  in  the  work  of  civilization  and  Christ 
ianity.  Then  a  few  of  the  men  came  in  and 
the  work  was  begun.  Growing  until  the  '  little 
leaven  has  almost  leavened  the  whole  lump.' 
For  a  long  time  converts  to  religion  were  con 
fined  to  the  old  men  and  women,  but  for  the 
last  two  years  our  accessions  have  been  of  the 
young  men  and  the  young  women,  those  who 
have  been  educated  in  our  school,  not  one  of 
whom  there  is,  that  has  arrived  at  the  years  of 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  109 

discretion,  that  is  not  now  an  active,  earnest 
and  zealous  professing  Christian  ;  and  many  of 
the  heretofore  wildest  and  unpromising  of  the 
Warm  Spring  tribe  have  made  a  public  pro 
fession  of  religion,  and  are  leading  the  most 
exemplary  and  christian-like  lives. 

"  At  our  communion  about  two  years  since, 
there  were  upwards  of  70,  who  were  members 
in  good  standing  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  since  that  time,  74  of  the  most  in 
fluential  and  intelligent,  who  had  heretofore 
not  united  with  the  church,  have  come  forward 
and  made  public  declaration  of  their  faith  in 
God  and  a  Redeemer,  and  who  are  active  and 
zealous  participants  in  our  religious  exercises. 
And  let  me  here  observe  that  in  all  those  who 
have  made  a  profession  there  is  not  one  instance 
of  a  relapse,  or  one  subject  of  church  discipline 
or  censure.  They  give  more  evidence  of  sin 
cerity  in  their  profession  than  any  people  I  have 
ever  seen.  The  church  membership  would  have 
been  more  than  double  what  it  now  is,  could 
we  have  had  an  ordained  minister  of  the  Gospel 
of  the  denomination  to  which  this  Agency  has 
been  assigned,  to  admit  them,  there  having 
been  no  church  communion,  as  I  have  stated, 
for  nearly  two  years.  I  have  been  ably  assisted 
by  my  clerk,  Cyrus  H.  Walker,  a  licentiate  of 
the  Congregational  Church,  a  faithful,  intelli- 


no  History  of  Indian  Missions 

gent  and  able  expounder  of  God's  holy  word, 
and  also  his  brother,  Marcus  W.  Walker,  a 
gentleman  of  fine  attainments  and  an  agreeable 
speaker  and  teacher,  a  member  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church,  both  sons  of  the  late  Rev. 
Elkanah  Walker,  one  of  our  earliest  mission 
aries." 

The  fruits  of  this  Christianity  in  the  whole 
tribe  are  seen  in  almost  every  department  of 
life.  Their  deportment  at  church  will  compare 
favorably  with  that  of  white  people.  They  are 
generally  good  singers,  and  have  learned  to 
sing  from  books. 

Most  of  the  gambling  and  drunkenness  died 
out  gradually  with  the  rise  of  religion  ;  those 
professing  Christianity  abstaining  from  principle 
from  these  vices,  and  frowning  down  the  practice 
in  others.  Thus  crime  has  in  a  great  measure 
ceased,  so  that  the  guard-house  fell  into  ruins 
by  1873. 

They  have  been  noted  for  the  assistance 
which  they  have  given  our  troops  in  two  In 
dian  wars — that  with  the  Snake  River  Indians 
and  the  Modoc  war.  See  Chapter  VI. 

In  1865  they  ate  their  meals,  if  meals  they 
could  be  called,  off  the  ground  like  pigs,  and 
were  wrapped  in  their  filthy  blankets;  but  now 
most  families  sit  around  tables,  which  are  fur 
nished  with  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life,  and 
dress  in  the  clothes  of  American  citizens. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  in 

Previous  to  Captain  Smith's  administration, 
polygamy  was  indulged  to  its  fullest  extent, 
and  the  women  were  bought  and  sold,  and  used 
as  beasts  of  burden,  and  when  old  they  were 
kicked  out  to  get  their  living  as  best  they  could, 
or  to  die  of  want.  But  this  is  all  changed,  be 
cause  their  Agent  told  them  that  it  was  con 
trary  to  the  Bible. 

It  is  interesting  to  read  their  thoughts  and 
speeches,  when  they  gave  up  polygamy  in  De 
cember,  1871,  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  from  Hon. 
A.  B.  Meacham,  Superintendent  of  Indian  Af 
fairs  for  Oregon.  After  one  or  two  days  of 
speech-making,  their  hearts  were  thoroughly 
aroused,  and  the  proposition  was  made  to  abol 
ish  polygamy. 

"Who  will  be  the  first  to  throw  away  his 
Indian  heart,  laws,  customs,  and  be  from  this 
day  henceforth  a  white  man  in  everything  per 
taining  to  civilization  ?  " 

"  Silence  reigned.  All  eyes  turned  toward 
Mark,  head  chief.  He  realized  the  situation, 
and  saw  how  much  of  the  welfare  of  his  people 
depended  on  his  example.  He  saw  besides  his 
three  wives  and  their  ten  children.  He  arose 
slowly,  half-hesitating,  as  if  he  had  not  made 
up  his  mind  what  to  do.  The  presence  of  his 
women  embarrassed  him.  He  said,  '  My  heart 
is  warm  like  fire,  but  there  are  cold  spots  in  it. 


112  History  of  Indian  Missions 

I  don't  know  how  to  talk.  I  want  to  be  a  white 
man.  My  father  did  not  tell  me  it  was  wrong 
to  have  so  many  wives.  I  love  all  my  women. 
My  old  wife  is  a  mother  to  the  others.  I  can't 
do  without  her.  But  she  is  old  ;  she  cannot 
work  very  much  ;  I  can't  send  her  away  to  die. 
This  woman,'  pointing  to  another,  *  cost  me 
ten  horses.  She  is  a  good  woman.  I  can't  do 
without  her.  That  woman,'  pointing  to  still 
another,  *  cost  me  eight  horses  ;  she  is  young  ; 
she  will  take  care  of  me  when  I  am  old.  I  don't 
know  how  to  do.  I  want  to  do  right.  I  am 
not  a  bad  man.  I  know  your  new  law  is  good; 
the  old  one  is  bad.  We  must  be  like  the  white 
men.  I  am  a  man  ;  I  will  put  away  the  old 
law/ 

"Captain  Smith,  although  a  Presbyterian,  be 
haved  then  like  an  old-fashioned  Methodist, 
shouting  '  Thank  God,  thank  God,  the  ice  is 
broke.' 

"Mark  remained  standing,  and  resumed,  'I 
want  you  to  tell  me  how  to  do  right.  I  love 
my  women  and  children.  I  can't  send  any  of 
them  away.  What  must  I  do  ? '  The  old  chief 
was  moved,  and  his  upheaving  breast  gave  proof 
that  he  was  a  man.  Silence  follows  while 

awaiting  the  answer — a  silence  that  was  felt 

The  Superintendent  replied, '  I  know  how  much 
depends  on  my  words.  This  is  a  great  ques- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  113 

tion.  It  has  always  been  a  hard  thing  to  man 
age.  My  heart  is  not  a  rock.  I  sympathize 
with  you ;  Captain  Smith  feels  for  you.  We 
will  tell  you  what  to  do.  No  man  after  this 
day  shall  ever  marry  more  than  one  woman. 
No  woman  shall  ever  be  sold.  The  men  that 
have  more  than  one  wife  must  arrange  to  be 
lawfully  married  to  one  of  them.  The  others 
are  to  remain  with  him  until  they  are  married 
to  other  persons,  or  find  homes  elsewhere.  If 
they  do  not  marry  again,  the  husband  must  take 
care  of  them  and  their  children.' 

"  After  a  few  moments  the  chief  arose  and 
said:  '  I  understand  ;  that  is  right.  I  will  give 
all  my  wives  a  choice.  I  will  be  a  white  man 
from  this  day ; '  and  then  advancing  toward  the 
desk,  he  was  welcomed  by  a  friendly  greeting 
from  the  white  men  present." 

His  second  wife,  Matola,  arose,  and  made  a 
short  speech,  inquiring  what  was  to  become  of 
her  and  her  children.  "  Is  your  heart  made  of 
stone  ?  Can  I  give  Mark  up  ?  No,  I  won't ;  he 
will  want  my  children  ;  I  want  them.  I  won't 
go  away.  I  am  his  wife.  I  am  satisfied  with 
being  his  second  wife.  We  did  not  know  it  was 
wrong.  Nobody  told  us  so.  We  get  along  well 
together ;  I  won't  leave  him ;  I  am  his  wife." 
The  plan  was  explained  and  she  was  reconciled. 

John  Mission  was  the  next  to  follow  Mark, 


114  History  of  Indian  Missions 

saying  that  "when  he  was  a  small  boy,  he  first 
heard  about  the  new  law.  He  had  waited  for 
the  time  when  his  people  would  come  to  it. 
They  have  come  now.  I  am  glad  in  my  heart. 
I  give  you  my  hand." 

Billy  Chinook  said :  "  I  throw  away  the  law 
my  fathers  made.  I  take  this  new  law.  I  have 
two  wives.  They  are  both  good.  If  anybody 
wants  one  of  my  wives,  he  can  have  her  ;  if  he 
don't,  she  can  stay.  Long  time  I  have  waited 
for  the  new  law.  It  has  come.  I  give  you  my 
hand." 

Hand-shaking  was  renewed,  and  then  one 
after  another  arose  and  made  short  speeches, 
and  came  forward,  and  were  enrolled ;  the 
Captain  growing  warmer  and  more  enthusiastic 
as  each  new  name  was  entered  on  the  roll. 
Nearly  a  hundred  had  come  out  squarely,  and 
the  meeting  was  adjourned  to  the  following 
day. 

On  reassembling  the  next  morning  the  invi 
tation  was  renewed  and  nearly  all  the  men 
present  surrendered.  Sitting  moody,  gloomy, 
silent,  was  a  tall,  fine-looking  fellow  with  a 
blanket  on  his  shoulders.  His  name  was  Pi-a- 
noose.  He  had  been  called  on  several  times, 
but  had  not  responded  until  near  the  close  of 
this  civil  revival.  Unexpectedly  he  laid  aside 
his  blanket  and  arose.  Every  eye  was  turned 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  115 

on  this  man,  because  he  had  opposed  every  new 
law.  While  he  was  a  peaceable,  quiet  man,  he 
was  a  strong  one,  and  had  always  exercised  a 
great  influence,  especially  with  the  younger 
men.  He  began  to  talk — breaking  a  breath 
less  silence,  because  it  was  supposed  he  would 
take  a  stand  against  the  new  law — the  Indian's 
way  of  speaking  of  all  new  rules.  His  speech 
was  one  of  vast  importance  to  his  hearers,  and 
was  as  follows : 

"  I  was  born  a  wild  Indian.  My  father  was  a 
wild  Indian.  A  long  time  I  have  fought  you 
in  my  heart.  I  have  not  talked  much.  I 
wanted  to  think.  I  have  thought  about  the 
new  law  a  great  deal.  My  heart  says,  No  !  I 
cannot  fight  against  it  any  longer.  I  am 
going  to  be  a  white  man.  I  will  not  give  up 
the  new  law." 

He  advanced  toward  the  desk,  and  the  Cap 
tain,  unable  to  restrain  his  emotions  of  pleasure, 
gave  vent  to  exclamations  of  gladness,  by  slap 
ping  his  hand  on  the  desk,  while  tears  came  to 
his  eyes  in  proof  of  his  pleasure.  The  hand 
shaking  that  followed  was  of  that  kind  which 
expressed  more  than  words.  A  throng  gath 
ered  around  Pi-a-noose,  congratulating  him. 

"  Here  was  a  scene  that  would  have  touched 
the  heart  of  a  man  possessed  of  any  feeling — a 
savage  transformed  into  a  man.  The  world 


Il6  History  of  Indian  Missions 

scoffs  at  such  sentiments,  because  it  seldom 
witnesses  a  spectacle  so  grand  in  human  life; 
Indians  that  have  passed  into  that  new  life  are 
like  white  men  newly  converted  to  Christianity. 
Our  meeting  adjourned  with  great  demonstra 
tions  of  pleasure  on  the  part  of  all  interested. 

"  The  Captain  called  his  employees  together 
for  a  prayer-meeting;  a  few  Indians  were  pres 
ent,  taking  part  in  the  exercises."* 

Previous  to  1866  their  crops  did  not  probably 
exceed  300  bushels  in  any  one  year.  In  that 
year  seed  which  they  packed  40  miles  was  fur 
nished  them,  and  which  yielded  them  at  least 
3,400  bushels  of  wheat,  and  more  than  340  of 
corn,  besides  a  good  supply  of  vegetables. 
What  was  better,  it  instilled  into  them  a  new 
courage.  Although  the  reservation  contains 
464,000  acres,  it  is  largely  not  adapted  to  agri 
culture,  more  than  one-half  of  it  being  moun 
tainous  and  covered  with  timber,  and  the 
remainder  not  well  adapted  for  agricultural 
purposes.  It  may  be  estimated  that  3,600  acres 
are  probably  sufficient  for  their  wants,  and 
though  in  many  years  they  have  suffered 
from  the  crickets  and  drought,  still,  accord 
ing  to  the  official  report,  they  cultivated  in 
1880  2,000  acres  of  land,  being  for  that  year 
an  increase  of  500,  and  raised  10,000  bushels 

*  Wigwam  and  Warpath,  pp.  174-179. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  117 

of  wheat,  500  of  corn,  1,575  °f  oats,  and  more 
than  3,000  of  vegetables,  and  175  tons  of 
hay.  Their  stock  has  increased  from  200  to 
525  cattle,  and  from  1,700  to  3,900  horses,  the 
breed  of  the  latter  having  also  been  improved. 
One  man  raises  from  800  to  1,000  bushels  of 
grain  every  year  on  an  average,  and  there  are 
several  smaller  farms  which  produce  300  or  400 
bushels.  The  miller  (grist  mill)  and  superin 
tendent  of  farming  are  Indians,  and  the  black 
smith  work  is  also  done  by  the  Indians. 
There  are  six  apprentices,  in  the  grist  mill,  saw 
mill,  wagon  shop  and  blacksmith  shop.  There 
are  sixty  who  can  read,  and  in  1880  fifteen  of  the 
best  and  brightest  of  the  scholars  were  taken 
to  Forest  Grove  for  a  higher  education,  at 
the  Indian  Government  school.  These  In 
dians  for  some  years  have  been  increasing, 
there  having  been  more  births  than  deaths. 
The  Wascoes  have  been  the  leading  ones  in 
civilization,  but  the  Warm  Springs  and  John 
Day's  Indians  have  at  last  roused  up  and  gone 
to  work;  the  500  additional  acres  mentioned 
as  having  been  broken  up  during  1880,  having 
been  chiefly  their  work.  Of  them  it  can  be  said 
that  they  made  more  progress  during  that  year 
than  during  the  previous  twenty.  In  general 
prosperity,  the  Indians  on  the  reservation  are 
nearly  abreast  of  the  white  settlers  around  them, 


1 1 8  History  of  Indian  Missions 

and  for  good  order  they  are  superior  to  white 
communities  of  the  same  intelligence. 

The  Puyallup  Indians. — These  Indians  are 
situated  near  New  Tacoma,  on  Puget  Sound, 
in  Washington  Territory,  and  number  about 
520  persons.  Though  a  treaty  was  made  with 
them  in  1855,  7et  m  1871,  when  the  reservation 
was  turned  over  to  Christian  workers,  most  of 
whom  were  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
very  few  could  be  found  who  could  read  or 
write,  and  but  little  farming  was  done. 

In  1865,  John  Flett,  a  Christian  man,  who 
had  long  had  intercourse  with  various  tribes  of. 
Indians  on  the  coast,  went  there  as  black 
smith,  and  remained  most  of  the  time  for  fifteen 
years.  He  was,  however,  not  one  of  those  who 
pounded  iron  and  did  nothing  else,  but  was 
continually  talking  to  the  Indians  in  regard  to 
the  Bible.  In  1871  he  was  reinforced  by  other 
Christian  workers  (Government  employees),  and 
in  1873  Rev.  G.  W.  Sloan  became  a  teacher, 
and  remained  until  his  health  failed  in  1875. 
After  this  Mr.  Flett  again  took  the  lead,  but  as 
the  work  seemed  to  be  growing  on  his  hands, 
and  believing  that  the  time  had  come  when  it 
needed  more  attention  than  he  could  give,  he 
vTote  for  help,  and  the  Rev.  M.  G.  Mann,  of  the 
1 1  ^sbyterian  Church,  was  sent  there  in  the 
spring  of  1876.  He  soon  organized  a  church 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  119 

of  24  members.  Since  1876,  when  the  treaty 
expired,  and  the  employees  left,  he  and  Mr. 
Flett  have  had  but  little  Christian  help,  except 
during  a  small  portion  of  the  time,  when  spe 
cial  appropriations  have  been  made  by  Govern 
ment  for  a  few  employees.  But  the  work  has 
gone  on  steadily,  some  of  the  medicine  men 
even  joining  the  church,  until  now  it  numbers 
nearly  1 50  members  in  good  standing. 

Other  results  are  seen  in  a  good  Sabbath- 
school,  the  Christian  marriage  of  nearly  all  the 
adults,  a  much  better  observance  than  formerly 
of  the  marital  ties,  the  discontinuance  in  the 
main  of  gambling,  drunkenness,  buying  and 
selling  women  for  wives,  superstitious  rites  and 
incantations  over  the  sick,  the  decrease  of  idle 
ness,  and  increase  of  industry. 

All  the  able-bodied  men  are  engaged  in 
civilized  pursuits;  164  separate  allotments  of 
land  have  been  made  to  the  tribe.  Recently 
they  were  rejoiced  to  receive  from  the  United 
States  titles  to  their  land,  for  which  they  had 
been  asking  and  waiting  for  many  years.  That 
was  one  of  the  best  things  which  Govern 
ment  ever  did  for  them  to  encourage  them 
in  habits  of  industry.  The  acreage  culti 
vated  by  them  has  increased  from  291  in  1871, 
to  i, 200  in  1880,  all  of  which  it  was  neces 
sary  to  clear  of  heavy  timber,  at  a  cost  of 


I2O  History  of  Indian  Missions 

from  thirty  to  sixty  dollars  an  acre.  The  in 
crease  of  their  products  since  1871,  according 
to  official  reports,  has  been  of  wheat  from  882 
bushels  to  2,825;  from  2,160  bushels  of  oats  and 
barley  to  6,850;  from  160  tons  of  hay  to  1,100; 
and  their  garden  vegetables,  mostly  potatoes, 
from  about  12,000  bushels  to  18,000;  their  cat 
tle  have  increased  from  82  to  383;  and  while 
they  had  no  swine  or  sheep  in  1871,  they  now 
have  425  of  the  former  and  107  of  the  latter. 
Their  horses  alone  have  decreased,  the  num 
ber  now  being  325,  against  409  before.  Eighty 
of  the  Indians  can  read,  and  about  twenty-five 
of  their  children  have  gone  to  Forest  Grove  for 
higher  instruction.  Their  births  exceed  their 
deaths,  and  it  is  estimated  that  they  obtain 
ninety-five  per  cent,  of  their  subsistence  from 
civilized  pursuits. 

The  ex-chief,  Thomas  Stolyer,  took  the  lead 
among  the  Indians  in  the  Christian  work,  about 
the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  church  ; 
but  he  died  a  year  or  two  afterwards.  The  fol 
lowing  interesting  message  was  received  from 
him  by  the  Synod  of  the  Columbia,  at  its  meet 
ing  in  Portland,  Oregon,  while  he  was  sick  : 
"  Indian  Chief  Thomas  Stolyer,  elder  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  at  the  Puyallup,  who 
appeared  and  spoke  on  the  floor  of  the  last 
meeting  of  the  Presbytery,  now  about  to  die, 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  121 

and  going  to  his  reward,  as  the  first  fruits  of 
missionary  work  among  that  tribe,  unable  to 
represent  his  dark  brethren  in  the  Synod,  sends 
his  warm  interest  to  this  body,  and  thanks 
them  for  sending  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  to  that  tribe  of  the  savage  Indians.  He 
dies  in  firm  faith  of  its  saving  truth,  and  in  se 
rene  hope  of  eternal  life,  relying  only  on  the 
merits  of  Jesus  his  Saviour.  He  sends  as  his 
dying  request  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
may  not  grow  cold  in  their  interest  for  his 
brethren,  but  that  the  gospel  may  be  continued 
to  be  preached  among  them." 

As  an  out-station  Rev.  Mr.  Mann  has  visited 
the  Nesqually  Reservation,  which  is  under  the 
same  agent  as  that  at  the  Puyallup,  General  R. 
H.  Milroy  ;  and  for  missionary  work  some  of 
the  Puyallup  Indians  have  assisted  him  at  that 
place.  There  are  about  160  Indians  belonging 
to  this  tribe,  less  than  half  of  whom  live  on 
their  reservation,  and  in  former  years  they  have 
been  under  Catholic  instruction.  For  many 
years  there  have  been  no  Government  employ 
ees  on  this  reservation,  and  consequently  they 
have  improved  but  little.  But  since  the  gospel 
has  been  preached  among  them  there  has  been 
an  improvement  in  morals,  a  comfortable 
church  building  erected,  which  was  completed 
in  June,  1880,  and  a  Presbyterian  Church  often 


122  History  of  Indian  Missions 

members  has  been  organized.  Some  of  the 
Puyallup  Indians  spent  there  a  part  of  Christ 
mas,  1880,  in  assisting  'in  religious  services, 
and  professed  to  enjoy  them  as  much  as  some 
whites  do  a  Christmas  tree. 

In  the  early  part  of  1881  a  third  church  was 
organized  by  Mr.  Mann  on  the  Chehalis  reser 
vation,  which  belongs  to  the  same  agency,  and 
at  which  comparatively  little  Christian  or  edu 
cational  work  had  previously  been  done.  In 
1873  a  boarding  school  was  opened,  and  con 
tinued  until  1875,  with  good  effect  on  the  chil 
dren  and  older  Indians,  when  it  was  closed  for 
want  of  funds.  After  this  the  Indians  went 
back  in  a  great  measure  to  their  old  habits,  and 
the  children  forgot  nearly  all  they  had  learned; 
so  that  when  in  1879  the  mission  was  reopened, 
nearly  all  of  the  children  had  to  begin  with 
their  A  B  C's.  At  the  same  time  other  em 
ployees  were  also  sent,  a  Sabbath-school  be 
gun,  and  the  good  work  urged  forward  until  the 
result  has  been  a  small  church.  There  are  185 
of  the  Chehalis  Indians. 

These  three  churches,  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Presbytery  at  Port  Townsend,  April  5,  1881, 
were  represented  by  three  Indian  elders,  and 
the  following  was  adopted  :  "  Presbytery  notes 
with  extreme  pleasure  (i),  the  presence  of 
some  of  our  Indian  brethren  in  the  eldership 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  123 

representing  the  churches  of  Puyallup,  Nesqual- 
ly  and  Chehalis  at  the  session  of  the  Presby 
tery;  and  (2),  the  additional  satisfactory  fact 
that  their  traveling  expenses  have  been  fully 
defrayed  by  the  churches  which  they  repre 
sent." 

The  last  great  event  which  has  gladdened 
the  hearts  of  the  Christian  workers  on  the  Puy 
allup  reservation  has  been  the  dedication  of 
their  new  church  building,  January  23d,  1881. 
It  is  in  plain  view  from  New  Tacoma,  the  ter 
minus  of  the  North  Pacific  Railroad,  and  has 
cost  much  care  and  thought  to  the  missionary. 
The  Indians  contributed  very  largely  and  main 
ly  to  its  erection,  although  some  of  the  citizens 
of  Tacoma  assisted,  and  other  outside  aid  was 
also  given.  Rev.  T.  C.  Armstrong,  of  New 
Tacoma,  Rev.  A.  L.  Lindsley,  D.D.,  of  Port 
land,  who  has  for  ten  years  watched,  aided  and 
advised  these  Indians,  Gen.  Milroy,  their  agent, 
and  Dr.  Newell,  the  Governor  of  the  Territory, 
were  present,  and  addressed  the  Indians  with 
words  of  encouragement,  the  dedicatory  sermon 
having  been  preached  by  Dr.  Lindsley. 

Here,  then,  is  a  solution  to  the  Indian  ques 
tion  ;  as  a  gentleman  in  the  Puyallup  valley,  a 
prominent  man,  though  not  a  professing  Chris 
tian,  said  to  the  writer.  He  had  never,  he  said, 
believed  that  Christianity  or  anything  else 
would  solve  the  problem  ;  but  since  he  had  seen 


124  History  of  Indian  Missions 

what  had  been  accomplished  among  the  Puyal- 
lup  Indians,  through  the  influence  of  Christian 
ity,  during  the  past  ten  years,  he  acknowledged 
that  he  had  been  wrong  in  his  opinion,  and  had 
come  to  agree  with  the  principles  of  the  then 
Christian  policy  of  Government. 

"  They  show,"  says  Rev.  Dr.  Lindsley,  in 
what  he  calls  moderate  views,  "the  reality  of 
their  conversion,  and  the  sincerity  of  their  pro 
fessions,  by  a  life  as  consistent  as  can  be  found 
in  any  community  of  Christians  of  a  similar 
grade  of  intelligence." 

The  Skokomisk  Reservation. — The  Indians 
belonging  to  this  reservation  are  situated  on  the 
western  shores  of  Puget  Sound.  They  consist 
of  two  tribes.  The  Twanas,  250  in  number, 
most  of  whom  live  on  the  reservation,  and  the 
Clallams,  who  number  500,  and  who  live  at 
various  places  between  the  Agency  and  Neah 
Bay,  the  principal  settlements  being  at  Port 
Gamble,  Dunginess,  Elkwa  and  Clallam  Bay. 

In  1871  the  religious  care  of  this  Agency  was 
assigned  to  the  Congregationalists.  Previous 
to  that  time  very  little  had  been  done  for  them, 
religiously.  In  1867  Rev.  W.  C.  Chattin,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  was  employed  as 
school  teacher.  He  also  held  religious  ser 
vices  on  the  Sabbath,  which  some  of  the  older 
Indians  attended  ;  but  Sabbath-breaking,  such 
as  house-building,  trafficking  and  gambling  of 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  125 

the  whites  and  Indians,  which  was  allowed  in 
sight  and  hearing  of  the  place  of  worship,  pre 
vented  the  good  from  being  done  which,  prob 
ably,  might  otherwise  have  been  accomplished. 
Mr.  Chattin  did  not  remain  long,  and  no  reli 
gious  services  seem  to  have  been  held  until 
1868,  when  Mr.  D.  B.  Ward,  of  the  Protestant 
Methodist  Church,  began  work  as  school  teach 
er.  He  also  held  a  small  Sabbath-school.  He 
found  difficulties  to  contend  with  which  were 
very  similar  to  those  which  Mr.  Chattin  had 
met.  "If  it  is  wrong  to  break  the  Sabbath, 
why  does  the  Agent  do  so  ?"  "If  it  is  wrong  to 
play  cards  and  gamble,  why  do  the  white  em 
ployees  do  so  ?"  These  and  similar  questions 
were  asked  by  the  children,  and  these  examples 
largely  counteracted  Christian  "precepts. 

But  in  1871  Mr.  Edwin  Eells  was  appointed 
Agent,  and  has  since  remained.  A  Sabbath- 
school  and  prayer-meeting  were  immediately 
established.  And  most  of  the  Indians  who  were 
on  the  reservation  dropped  in  on  the  Sabbath 
during  the  summer  of  that  year. 

In  1872,  Rev.  J.  Casto,  M.D.,  was  appointed 
physician,  and  Rev.  C.  Eells,  the  father  of  the 
Agent,  and  who  thirty-four  years  before  had 
come  to  the  coast  as  a  missionary  to  the  Spo 
kane  Indians,  both  preached  during  the  winter 
at  the  Agency  and  in  the  camps  of  the  Indians. 


126  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Dr.  Casto  remained  until  1873,  and  Mr.  Eells 
continued  in  steady  labor  until  1874. 

During  the  latter  year  a  council-house  was 
built  at  a  money  cost  to  the  Government  of 
five  hundred  dollars,  besides  the  work  which 
was  done  by  the  Government  carpenter.  This 
building  has  been  steadily  used  as  a  church. 

In  the  spring  of  that  year  it  was  thought  best 
to  organize  a  church,  for  although  at  first  it  was 
evident  that  it  would  be  composed  mainly  of 
the  white  employees,  yet  it  was  hoped  that  it 
would  have  a  salutary  influence  on  the  Indians. 
This  was  done  June  23d,  1874,  with  eleven 
members,  one  of  whom  was  an  Indian  man,  the 
interpreter. 

About  that  time  Rev.  M.  Eells  went  to  the 
Agency  on  a  visit,  but  Providence  seemed  to 
keep  him  there  longer  than  he  at  first  intended, 
having  soon  afterwards  received  an  appointment 
as  missionary  from  the  American  Missionary 
Association,  and  he  has  remained  there  since 
that  time.  Slowly  different  individuals  have 
come  into  the  church,  twenty  Indians  in  all,  be 
sides  twelve  whites  on  profession  of  their  faith. 

The  Sabbath-school  under  the  superintend 
ence  of  the  Agent  has  been  steadily  kept  up, 
an  interesting  feature  of  it  being  the  com 
mitting  to  memory  of  the  verses  of  the  lesson. 
Some  Sabbaths  about  twenty  scholars  have  re- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  127 

cited  the  six  verses  of  the  lesson  without  a  mis 
take,  and  some  scholars  have  done  so  for  a 
whole  year. 

The  temperance  Work  has  been  as  successful 
as  could  be  expected.  Although  there  is  a 
little  drinking,  yet  the  greater  portion  of  it  has 
ceased,  especially  upon  the  reservation  ;  and 
those  away  from  it  drink  by  no  means  as  much 
as  many  of  their  white  neighbors. 

In  1878  a  small  hymn  book  in  the  Chinook 
jargon  was  published  by  the  missionary.  It 
grew  out  of  the  work ;  for  while  the  younger 
Indians  who  understand  English  enjoy  singing 
our  songs,  the  older  ones  complained  that  they 
were  dull,  as  they  could  not  understand  them. 
These  hymns  repeat  often,  and  hence  are  easily 
remembered,  and  thus  the  truths  contained  in 
them  are  retained  in  the  memory  much  better 
than  the  same  truths  are  remembered  when 
preached.  Indians  learning  them  have  taught 
them  to  other  Indians  far  away;  to  some  even 
in  British  Columbia,  whom  the  missionary  has 
never  seen. 

In  February,  1881,  the  church  lost  one  of  its 
most  intelligent  Indian  members — John  F.  Pal 
mer,  who  was  accidentally  killed  while  at  work 
in  the  saw-mill  at  Seabeck.  He  was  a  remark 
able  man.  In  1859  ne  went  with  the  family 
of  James  Seavy,  of  Port  Townsend,  to  San 


128  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Francisco,  where  he  remained  a  year  or  two, 
when  he  shipped  on  board  a  vessel,  and  spent 
most  of  the  time  until  1863  or  1864  about 
the  mouth  of  the  Amoor  River  in  Asiatic  Russia. 
After  that  he  returned,  to  Puget  Sound,  and  was 
for  about  ten  years  interpreter  at  the  Skoko- 
mish  Agency.  He  understood  the  Nesqually, 
Skokomish  or  Twana,  Clallam,  Russian  and 
English  languages,  and  could  read  and  write 
the  latter,  although  he  was  never  at  school 
more  than  three  weeks  in  his  life.  Most  of  his 
knowledge  he  picked  up  in  the  family  of  Mr. 
Seavy  and  on  board  ship.  He  had  a  library 
worth  fifty  or  sixty  dollars,  and  took  several 
papers,  both  Eastern  and  Western.  He  was 
the  only  Indian  to  unite  with  the  church  at  its 
organization,  but  he  lived  to  see  his  wife  and 
her  two  sisters,  whom  he  brought  up,  members 
of  it,  one  of  these  sisters  married/and  her  child 
the  first  one  among  those  of  the  Indians  to 
receive  baptism.  Many  of  his  family  relations 
in  early  days  died  through  the  influence  of 
whisky,  and  this  made  him  very  firm  in  behalf 
of  temperance.  His  life  abroad  and  other  in 
fluences  and  teachings  led  him  to  lose  faith  in 
the  Indian  incantations,  so  that  he  was  far  in 
advance  of  his  tribe,  and  was  constantly  labor 
ing  with  earnestness  to  induce  them  to  aban 
don  their  superstitions. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  129 

About  seventy-five  persons  in  both  tribes  can 
read,  six  are  apprentices  to  various  trades,  while 
some,  having  served  their  time  out,  have  gone 
forth  to  labor  for  themselves.  Since  July,  1881, 
the  white  persons  employed  as  farmer  and 
blacksmith  have  been  discharged,  and  Indians 
have  been  put  into  their  places,  while  for  more 
than  two  years  previous  to  that  time  the  car 
penter  was  an  Indian.  The  first  Indian  em 
ployed  in  that  position,  and  who  gave  satisfac 
tion  in  his  work,  until  he  resigned  on  account 
of  ill  health,  was  never  in  school  or  church  until 
he  was  about  twenty-two  years  of  age,  having 
lived  about  thirty  miles  from  the  reservation. 
After  he  was  of  age  he  saved  his  money  in 
order  that  he  might  attend  school,  and  he 
spent  three  winters  in  the  school  on  the  reser 
vation.  He  was  thereafter  appointed  carpen 
ter,  a  trade  which  he  had  picked  up  in  his  in 
tercourse  with  the  whites. 

About  four-fifths  of  the  Twanas  are  located 
on  small  tracts  of  land  on  the  reservation, 
surveyed  and  allotted  to  them,  where  they  have 
continuously  lived  during  the  past  six  years. 
Certificates  of  allotment  of  land  in  severalty 
were  issued  in  the  spring  of  1881  to  forty-five 
of  them  by  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs. 
This  was  a  great  encouragement  and  warranted 
them  in  cherishing  the  hope  that  they  would 


1 30  History  of  Indian  Missions 

not  be  removed  to  any  other  reservation,  but 
would  be  allowed  to  enjoy  the  fruit  of  their 
own  labors. 

They  have  cleared  small  farms,  and  have 
comfortable  houses,  barns,  woodsheds  and  out 
houses,  and  small  orchards.  Indoors,  many  of 
them  keep  their  floors  clean.  The  rooms  are 
warmed  with  stoves  and  fire-places,  and  some 
have  the  walls  neatly  papered;  some  of  them 
have  chairs  and  tables,  sinks  and  cupboards, 
bedsteads,  with  feather-beds,  sheets  and  pillow 
cases,  as  well  as  clocks  and  looking-glasses, 
with  a  few  sewing-machines.  They  are  annually 
growing  more  tidy.  As  an  out-station,  the 
Clallams  at  the  Indian  village  of  Jamestown, 
near  Dunginess,  have  received  considerable  at 
tention  from  the  Agent  and  missionary.  They 
are  ninety  miles  from  the  Agency.  Previous 
to  1873  they  were  much  addicted  to  the  use  of 
strong  drink;  so  much  so  that  the  white  resi 
dents  near  them  petitioned  to  have  them  re 
moved  to  the  reservation — a  punishment  they 
dread  nearly  as  much  as  any  other  which  can 
be  inflicted  on  them.  The  threat  of  doing  this 
had  a  good  effect,  so  that  about  fifteen  of  the 
leading  ones  combined  and  bought  218  acres  of 
land,  and  they  laid  out  their  village.  Most  of 
them  have  reformed  in  regard  to  drunkenness, 
and  they  have  steadily  advanced  in  civilization. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  131 

The  head  chief  of  the  tribe,  Lord  Jim  Balch, 
who  lives  here,  has  held  a  strong  and  firm  rein 
over  the  others,  especially  in  regard  to  in 
temperance. 

In  1874  they  began  holding  occasional  ser 
vices  of  some  kind  on  the  Sabbath.  At  the  first 
these  consisted  mostly  in  singing  Chinook  songs; 
but  speaking  and  prayer  were  afterward  added. 
In  1878  they  built  a  small  church,  which  was 
dedicated  May  I2th.  It  was  the  first  church 
in  the  county,  although  it  had  been  settled 
twenty-four  years,  and  now  has  a  population  of 
537  whites.  It  was  built  mostly  with  their  own 
means,  although  at  that  time  none  of  them 
were  members  of  the  church.  Six  of  them 
have  since  united  with  it.  In  the  spring  of 
1878,  at  their  request  a  school  teacher,  Mr.  J. 
W.  Blakeslee,  was  furnished  to  them.  He 
continued  with  them  until  June,  1881.  This 
day-school,  which  was  begun  as  an  experi 
ment,  has  proved  a  success.  The  result  with 
them  has  demonstrated  that  one  advantageous 
method  of  dealing  with  Indians  is  to  throw 
them  on  their  own  resources,  induce  them  to 
settle  on  land,  make  them  amenable  to  law, 
and  provide  them  with  the  means  of  education. 
Then  with  the  care  of  an  agent  to  see  that  the 
laws  against  drinking  are  properly  enforced, 
and  that  the  children  are  made  to  attend  the 


132  History  of  Indian  Missions 

school  until  they  realize  its  value,  no  further 
drain  need  to  be  made  on  the  public  treasury; 
for  their  necessities  and  the  example  of  their 
white  neighbors  will  do  the  rest. 

This  settlement  has  been  a  light-house  to  the 
other  Indians  along  the  shores  of  the  Straits  of 
Juan  De  Fuca.  Another  band  at  Clallam  Bay, 
in  1880,  purchased  land  for  themselves,  and  are 
preparing  to  follow  the  example  of  their  James 
town  brethren,  while  those  at  Elkwa  are  adopt 
ing  a  different  plan,  yet  a  civilizing  one,  by  set 
tling  on  homesteads. 

Siletz  Reservation,  Oregon.  The  Siletz  res 
ervation  is  situated  in  Western  Oregon,  and 
contains  1,119  Indians.  In  1855  a  treaty  was 
made  with  fourteen  tribes  in  Southern  Oregon, 
which  was  never  ratified  by  Congress.  The 
reservation  was  established  in  1855  by  order  of 
the  President,  and  curtailed  to  its  present  limits 
in  1865.  About  1856  the  Indians  were  placed 
on  it.  In  1876  the  Indians  of  the  Alsea  reser 
vation,  which  was  about  that  time  discontinued, 
numbering  335,  were  removed  to  the  Siletz. 

The  hatred  these  Indians  had  for  each  other 
was  only  exceeded  by  that  which  they  had  for 
the  whites.  The  contentions  between  them, 
together  with  the  practice  of  the  low  vices  of 
the  whites  and  their  own  vices,  while  at  the 
same  time  little,  if  any  Christianity  was  given  to 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  133 

them  to  elevate  them,  soon  began  to  decrease 
their  numbers.  When  they  were  first  removed 
to  the  reservation  they  were  reported  at  6,000, 
but  in  a  few  years  they  were  reduced  to  1,000, 
and  it  was  not  until  1875  that  this  decrease 
seemed  to  be  arrested. 

These  Indians  were  by  the  earlier  agents 
said  to  be  the  most  turbulent  on  the  coast. 
They  were  the  centre  of  the  Rogue  River  war 
of  1855-6,  and  the  terror  of  Southern  Oregon. 
As  late  as  1869  a  garrison  was  supposed  to  be 
necessary  on  the  reservation  in  order  to  keep 
peace,  and  was  accordingly  maintained. 

In  1871  this  agency  was  assigned  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  in  May  of 
that  year,  when  Gen.  Joel  Palmer  was  appoint 
ed  Agent,  a  more  lenient  policy  was  employed. 
A  Sabbath-school  was  begun  and  Christian  in 
struction  given,  but,  as  he  remained  less  than 
two  years,  the  fruits  of  seed  sown  did  not  fully 
appear. 

He  was  succeeded  in  April,  1873,  by  J.  H. 
Fairchild,  who  zealously  followed  up  the  policy 
begun  by  his  predecessor.  He  held  week-day 
services  as  well  as  on  the  Sabbath, while  stringent 
laws  were  made  against  Sabbath  breaking,  pro 
fanity  and  kindred  vices,  and  soon  a  better 
state  of  things  was  reported.  Licentiousness, 
theft,  fighting  and  wife-beating  in  a  great  mea- 


134  History  of  Indian  Missions 

sure  ceased,  and  the  jail  for  months  at  a  time 
was  tenantless. 

In  1873,  Rev.  W.  C.  Chattin  was  engaged  as 
a  teacher,  who  added  to  his  other  duties  those 
of  a  missionary,  and  the  same  year  a  church 
was  organized,  which  in  1880  numbered  130 
members,  including  probationers.  In  October, 
1875,  Mr.  Fairchild  resigned,  and  Mr.  William 
Bagley,  who  had  been  superintendent  of  farm 
ing  under  his  predecessor,  assumed  charge. 
He  saw  no  better  way  than  to  continue  Christi 
anity  as  a  civilizer,  and  the  same  policy  has 
been  continued  by  his  successor,  Mr.  E.  A. 
Swan,  who  entered  on  the  duties  of  his  office 
in  June,  1879.  Preaching  services  are  now 
held  once  each  Sabbath  by  an  appointee  of 
the  Oregon  Conference,  and  other  religious 
services,  often  in  the  form  of  praise  or  prayer 
meetings,  are  held  in  the  evening.  A  class 
meeting  is  held  on  each  Tuesday  evening  and 
a  prayer  meeting  on  Thursday  evening  at  the 
Agency.  While  there  have  been  some  causes 
which  prevented  trie  seed  thus  sown  from 
bringing  forth  the  fruit  desired  or  even  expected, 
yet  some  fruit  has  been  plainly  seen.  Men  for 
merly  most  in  brawls  and  rights  have  exhibited 
such  a  change,  showing  patience  under  provo 
cation,  readiness  to  forgive  injury,  a  spirit  of 
meekness  and  love  under  persecution,  that 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  135 

they  have  won  the  confidence  of  all,  and  those 
who  have  derided  them  have  sought  their 
counsel  to  aid  in  settling  differences.  Most  of 
the  drunkenness  has  ceased,  and  the  medicine 
men  are  rapidly  losing  their  influence,  compar 
atively  few  now  having  confidence  in  them.  In 
1880  all  of  them  wore  citizens'  clothes  ;  nearly 
all  the  male  Indians  were  engaged  in  civilized 
pursuits  ;  nearly  one  hundred  children  were 
in  school,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  adults 
could  read  ;  whereas  in  1871  it  was  report 
ed  that  probably  not  over  six  knew  their 
letters.  They  cultivated  1,956  acres,  400  of 
which  were  broken  during  the  year ;  they 
raised  1,500  bushels  of  wheat,  5,500  of  oats  and 
barley,  4,310  of  vegetables,  and  cut  300  tons  of 
hay,  against  415  of  wheat,  95  of  corn,  and  6,670 
of  potatoes  in  1871.  There  were  also  144,- 
614  feet  of  lumber  cut  at  the  steam  saw-mill, 
which  was  erected  in  1876,  most  of  the  work 
being  done  by  the  Indians.  Sixty-eight  per 
cent,  of  their  subsistence  was  obtained  by  labor 
in  civilized  pursuits,  four  per  cent,  from  Govern 
ment,  and  the  rest  by  fishing,  hunting,  root- 
gathering,  and  the  like. 

The  Quinaielt  Reservation. — These  Indians 
are  on  the  western  coast  of  Washington  Terri 
tory,  and  number  529  persons.  In  1871  they  were 
assigned  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 


136  History  of  Indian  Missions 

and  Mr.  G.  A.  Henry  was  appointed  Agent. 
He  had  been,  however,  Agent  at  the  same  place 
previous  to  the  time  when  the  military  had 
charge.  Christian,  educational  and  civilizing 
work  has  been  slow,  among  them,  for,  owing  to 
their  situation  on  the  coast  and  the  difficulty  of 
farming  on  the  reservation  because  of  the  heavy 
timber,  they  have  retained  many  of  their  old 
habits. 

The  Agent  and  employees,  however,  carried 
on  a  Sabbath-school  and  other  Christian  work, 
and  some  of  the  school  children  who  died  gave 
evidence  of  conversion. 

Mr.  Henry  remained  in  charge  until  April, 
1878,  when,  having  resigned,  Col.  Oliver  Wood 
took  his  place.  The  older  Indians  cling  strongly 
to  their  superstitions,  and  the  main  hope  of  im 
provement  seems  to  be  through  the  school. 
This,  previous  to  1878,  contained  only  twelve 
or  thirteen  scholars,  but  during  the  last  two  or 
three  years  it  has  increased  to  thirty-four. 

During  Mr.  Henry's  administration,  the 
Quillehute  Indians,  about  250  in  number,  who 
lived  to  the  north  of  the  Agency,  were  with 
drawn  from  it,  and  assigned  to  the  Neah  Bay 
Agency.  In  December,  1879,  however,  the 
lower  Chehalis  Indians,  living  south  of  the  res 
ervation,  were  withdrawn  from  the  Nesqually 
Agency  and  assigned  to  that  at  the  Quinaielt. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  137 

These  Indians  are  much  scattered,  but  a  school 
house  has  been  built  among  them  on  Shoal- 
water  Bay,  and  a  school  of  twenty  scholars 
begun,  in  addition  to  the  one  already  referred 
to  on  the  reservation. 

No  missionary  has  ever  been  sent  to  the  res 
ervation,  but  the  Episcopal  Church,  with  which 
those  now  in  charge  are  connected,  contrib 
uted  a  gift  of  books  for  church  and  Sabbath- 
school  purposes,  and  the  Rev.  E.  Davis,  of  that 
church,  accepted  the  position  as  teacher  at 
Shoalwater  Bay. 

Neah  Bay  Reservation. — These  Indians,  like 
those  at  the  Quinaielt,  have  made  less  progress  in 
Christianity  than  some  other  tribes,  owing  partly 
perhaps,  to  the  numerous  changes  which  have 
taken  place  among  those  in  charge,  but  mainly 
to  their  own  habits.  They  are  situated  on  the 
north-west  corner  of  Washington  Territory,  and 
are  composed  of  two  tribes,  the  Makahs,  num 
bering  728  persons,  whose  home  is  on  the  reser 
vation,  and  the  Quillehutes,  who  live  about 
thirty  miles  south  of  the  reservation,  and  num 
ber  310  persons. 

In  1871  the  Agency  was  assigned  to  the 
Christian  denomination.  E.  M.  Gibson  was 
appointed  Agent,  and  for  a  time  Rev.  C.  H. 
Hodges,  while  serving  as  teacher,  acted  as  mis 
sionary.  A  Sabbath-school  was  then  kept  up, 


138  History  of  Indian  Missions 

which  has  been  sustained  and  increased  by  their 
successors.  In  1874  such  changes  were  made 
that  Rev.  C.  A.  Huntington,  a  Congregational- 
ist,  became  Agent,  who  also  performed  some 
missionary  work,  but,  like  the  others  who  have 
been  there,  devoted  most  of  his  time  to  the 
children.  In  1877,  Captain  C.  Willoughby,  who, 
with  his  wife,  the  matron,  are  members  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  took  charge.  The  teacher, 
Mr.  A.  W.  Smith,  to  whom  the  Agent  gives  a 
large  share  of  the  credit  for  the  success  of  the 
school,  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

It  has  been  said  that  one  Christian  working 
forty  years  among  the  Indians  will  accomplish 
very  much  more  than  four  such  men  following 
each  other,  and  each  working  for  ten  years. 
Hence  it  is  not  strange  that  at  this  Agency, 
where  the  Christian  work  has  been  in  the  hands 
of  so  many  different  denominations,  the  results 
may  not  have  been  as  great  as  if  any  one  true- 
minded,  earnest  Christian  worker,  in  whom  the 
Indians  had  confidence,  had  labored  steadily 
during  even  ten  years. 

Another  fact  which  has  worked  both  against 
their  civilization  and  christianization  has  been 
the  ease  with  which  the  Indians  obtain  money. 
They  make  a  large  share  of  their  living  by  seal- 
fishing,  which  is  very  profitable,  and  of  which 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  139 

they  have  had  almost  the  monopoly  as  far  as  the 
Indians  in  this  region  in  the  United  States  are 
concerned.  A  few  months'  work  at  this  business 
is  enough  to  support  them  most  of  the  year,  and 
they  have  more  money  in  proportion  to  their 
numbers  than  the  other  tribes  in  the  territory. 
In  1880  it  was  estimated  that  twenty  thousand 
dollars  was  thus  distributed  among  the  tribes 
belonging  to  this  Agency.  Their  land,  too,  is 
very  poor  for  agriculture,  and  they  say,  "What 
is  the  use  of  our  working  on  this  barren  land 
where  the  army  worm  and  rust  destroy  the 
crop,  or  for  the  Agent  for  a  dollar  or  a  dollar  and 
a  half  a  day,  when  we  can  in  a  few  days  catch 
seals  whose  furs  will  be  worth  from  twenty  to 
forty  dollars."  Hence  they  dislike  to  work 
steadily,  and  as  "  Satan  finds  some  mischief 
still  for  idle  hands  to  do,"  they  have  spent  more 
time  in  gambling  and  the  old  heathenish  cus 
toms  than  many  other  tribes. 

For  these  reasons  those  in  charge  for  many 
years  have  felt  that  their  main  chance  of  suc 
cess  is  with  the  children  in  school.  For  several 
years  they  varied  in  numbers  from  thirty-five  to 
fifty  scholars,  but  in  1880  increased  appropria 
tions  were  made,  and  the  number  increased  to 
sixty-nine.  These  children  have  been  espe 
cially  proficient  in  committing  to  memory  nu 
merous  chapters  in  the  Bible,  which  they  repeat 


140  History  of  Indian  Missions 

in  concert  with  a  perfection  that  astonishes 
many  whites  who  hear  them,  and  about  which 
they  often  converse  among  themselves,  so  as  to 
understand  the  meaning. 

The  Klamath  Reservation. — A  treaty  was 
made  with  the  Klamath,  Modoc  and  Snake  In 
dians  in  1864,  its  ratification  with  amendments 
was  advised  in  1866,  and  it  was  proclaimed  by 
the  President  in  1870,  and  the  Klamath  reser 
vation  in  Southern  Oregon  was  assigned  to 
these  Indians.  In  1869  there  were  1,400  In 
dians  on  it ;  in  1880,  1,023. 

It  was  assigned  in  1871  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  in  May,  1872,  Mr.  L.  S. 
Dyer  was  sent  there  as  Agent.  Previous  to  this 
time  little  if  any  religious  instruction  had  been 
given  to  them.  As  the  climate  is  cold  and  the 
crops  uncertain,  they  have  been  obliged  to  keep 
up  their  roaming  habits  more  than  some  other 
tribes,  and  this  has  rendered  religious  work 
somewhat  difficult,  though  they  are  naturally 
more  enterprising  than  many  other  tribes.  Mr. 
Dyer  began  a  Sabbath-school,  and  in  1873  Rev. 
T.  Pearne,  a  Yakama  Indian  preacher,  labored 
there  for  a  short  time,  and  thirty-six  professed 
to  become  Christians.  The  next  year  Rev. 
James  Hare  was  appointed  commissary  in 
charge  of  the  Yainax  station  on  the  reserve, 
and  aided  in  the  missionary  work  as  he  was 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  141 

able,  a  few  seeming  to  exemplify  the  Christian 
religion  in  their  lives  and  conduct.  As  a  result 
of  these  labors  quite  an  awakening  seemed  to 
take  place,  so  that  in  1876  ninety  persons  were 
reported  as  being  members  of  the  church.  The 
Agent  and  employees  then  offered  to  pay  half 
of  the  salary  of  a  missionary,  so  much  did  they 
see  the  need  of  such  a  man,  if  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  would  send  him  and  defray 
the  rest  of  his  expenses  ;  but  the  offer  did  not 
bring  the  assistance. 

Mr.  Dyer  was  succeeded  in  1877  by  Rev.  J. 
H.  Roork,  who  reported  that  a  few  seemed  to 
have  the  leaven  of  truth  in  their  hearts,  but  the 
majority  who  had  made  a  profession  had  been 
turned  aside  to  their  old  ways,  being  much 
like  the  stony  ground  hearers.  In  this  respect 
they  have,  however,  been  similar  to  more  suc 
cessful  missions  among  other  tribes  ;  first,  ap 
parent  success,  then  a  reaction,  and  then  a 
more  permanent  step  forward. 

In  February,  1879,  Mr.  L.  M.  Nickerson  suc 
ceeded  Mr.  Roork,  under  whom  religious  services 
have  been  constantly  held,  and  although  but  few 
became  members  of  the  church — twenty  in  1879 
— yet  gradual  progress  is  being  made  by  the 
people  in  religious  knowledge  and  experience, 
and  they  are  being  slowly  moulded  into  better 
men  and  women.  In  1880  a  church  building 
was  in  process  of  erection. 


142  History  of  Indian  Missions 

No  successful  school  was  begun  until  1874, 
consequently  not  much  had  been  done  in  regard 
to  education.  Since  that  time,  however,  sixty 
have  been  taught  to  read,  forty-two  being 
members  of  the  school  in  1880,  with  an  average 
attendance  for  the  year  of  twenty-eight.  All 
dress  in  citizens'  clothes,  and  the  births  now 
slightly  exceed  the  deaths. 

As  the  climate  is  too  cold  for  successful  farm 
ing,  not  very  much  has  been  done  in  that  di 
rection. 


PAET    II. 


REFLEX  INFLUENCE  OF  INDIAN  MIS- 
SIGNS  ON  THE  WHITES. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

MISSIONS  AND  THE  NATION — THE  POSSESSION 
OF  WASHINGTON  TERRITORY — THE  GOVERN 
MENT  OF  OREGON. 

IT  might  very  easily  have  been  said  to  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions  in  1849,  "  You  have  spent  there  forty 
thousand  dollars,  lost  three  or  four  valuable 
laborers,  and  what  have  you  to  show  for  it  ?" 
and  to  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  "  Mr.  Lee  raised  forty  thou 
sand  dollars  in  order  to  take  out  his  last  rein 
forcement,  besides  all  that  you  spent  previous 
to  that,  and  you  can  show  almost  nothing." 
But  the  result  has  proven  that  when  God  says, 
"Give  and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you;  good 
measure,  pressed  down  and  shaken  together, 
and  running  over,  shall  men  give  into  your 
bosom,"  it  is  as  applicable  to  the  missions  on 
the  Pacific  coast  as  anywhere  else. 

Rev.  William  Warren  has  written  a  book  en 
titled  "Our  Indebtedness  to  Missions,  or  What 
we  Get  for  what  we  Give''  The  Pacific  coast 
furnishes  abundant  material  on  this  subject. 

Indian  missions  brought  the  first  white  wo- 


146  History  of  Indian  Missions 

men  overland  to  Oregon;  opened  the  first 
emigrant  wagon  road  to  the  Columbia  River; 
furnished  Oregon  with  the  first  United  States 
officer,  a  Sub-Indian  Agent;  gave  the  first  Gov 
ernor  to  the  Territory;  established  the  first 
permanent  American  settlement  here;  aided 
essentially  in  the  establishment  of  the  Provis 
ional  Government,  five  years  before  the  United 
States  formed  a  Territorial  Government  and 
extended  her  protection  over  the  country;  so 
that  without  this  aid,  the  Provisional  Govern 
ment  would,  without  doubt,  never  have  been 
organized;  brought  the  first  American  cattle 
to  the  Willamette  valley;  and  saved  the  coun 
try,  or  at  least  an  important  portion  of  it,  to 
the  United  States. 

For  a  long  time  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  had  each  laid  claim  to  all  of  the  Oregon 
Territory,  comprising  what  is  now  Oregon, 
Washington  and  Idaho;  and  for  a  longer  time 
to  that  portion  which  lies  north  of  the  Colum 
bia  River.  The  difficulty  was  owing  partly  to 
an  ignorance  of  the  fact  as  to  who  were  the 
original  discoverers  of  the  country — a  point  in 
volved  in  obscurity — and  partly  as  to  what 
constituted  the  right  of  possession,  according 
to  international  law,  the  principles  of  which 
were  not  thoroughly  settled. 
*  The  history  of  the  north-west  coast  may  be 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  147 

divided  into  three  periods:  that  of  discovery, 
the  beginning  of  which  is  hardly  known,  but 
which  terminated  about  1811,  when  Mr.  David 
Thomson  descended  Clark's  fork  of  the  Co 
lumbia  River  from  fifty-two  degrees  north  lati 
tude  to  its  mouth;  that  of  joint  occupancy  from 
1790  to  1846;  and  the  period  since  that  time 
when  the  country  was  by  treaty  acknowledged 
to  belong  to  the  United  States. 

The  first  period  is  involved  in  so  much  ob 
scurity  that  we  have  not  space  to  follow  it 
through  its  details.  The  territory  had  been 
explored  mainly  by  the  Spanish,  English, 
and  Americans,  and  in  such  a  way  that  each 
nation  laid  claim  to  a  portion.  France  also 
had  claims,  because  she  had  discovered  the 
Mississippi  River.  By  right  of  continuity,  she 
extended  her  claim  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  this 
being  the  reason  Great  Britain  advanced  for 
extending  her  jurisdiction  to  the  Mississippi, 
by  virtue  of  holding  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

The  first  national  agreement  was  made  be 
tween  Spain  and  Great  Britain  in  1790,  in  the 
Convention  of  the  Escurial.  The  claims  of 
each  country  were  then  so  strong  that  joint 
occupancy  was  agreed  upon  between  them. 

In  1803  the  United  States  purchased  from 
France,  Louisiana,  and  all  her  rights  through 
to  the  Pacific  coast.  In  1818  she  bought  of 


148  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Spain,  Florida  and  the  Spanish  rights  on  the 
Pacific  coast  north  of  forty-two  degrees.  Thus 
the  question  was  narrowed  down  to  Great  Brit 
ain  and  the  United  States.  The  latter  based 
her  claim  on  these  purchases  from  France  and 
Spain,  the  entrance  of  the  Columbia  River  in 
1792,  by  Captain  Gray,  who  sailed  up  for  twelve 
or  fifteen  miles,  and  the  journey  of  Lewis  and 
Clarke  across  the  continent  in  1804-5-6.  She 
claimed  all  the  country  west  of  the  Rocky  Mount 
ains,  between  forty-two  degrees  and  fifty-four 
degrees  north  latitude,  or  north  to  the  Russian 
possessions,  thus  completely  cutting  Great 
Britain  off  from  any  sea-coast  on  the  Pacific 
shores.  Great  Britain  in  turn  based  her  claims 
on  her  first  discoveries,  which  she  stated  were 
prior  to  those  of  the  Spanish;  to  the  exploration 
and  formal  taking  possession,  in  his  Majesty's 
name,  of  Puget  Sound,  in  1792,  by  Vancouver, 
while  in  command  of  a  national  expedition; 
and  to  the  exploration  of  the  Columbia  River 
by  the  same  expedition  for  about  a  hundred 
miles  above  its  mouth,  a  short  time  after  Cap 
tain  Gray  had  entered  it,  and  the  formal  taking 
possession  of  the  country  drained  by  it,  which 
Captain  Gray,  in  a  private  ship,  and  who  was 
in  connection  with  a  private  enterprise,  had  not 
done.  She  claimed  as  far  south  as  forty-two 
degrees,  the  northern  line  of  California,  which 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  149 

Spain  had  reserved,  thus  cutting  the  United 
States  off  from  any  sea-coast  on  the  Pacific. 

So  strong  were  the  claims  of  each  party  that 
they  found  it  impossible  to  settle  the  question  ; 
hence  in  1818,  soon  after  the  United  States  had 
bought  from  Spain,  Florida  and  her  other  rights, 
a  treaty  was  made  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States,  by  which  joint  occupancy 
was  allowed  for  a  period  often  years.  In  1828 
this  was  renewed  for  an  indefinite  period,  to  be 
terminated  by  either  party  on  giving  twelve 
months'  notice.  Various  attempts  were  made  to 
come  to  some  agreement,  but  none  were  success 
ful  until  1846.  Previous  to  that  time  each  party 
had  given  up  some  of  its  claims.  The  United 
States  were  willing  that  the  forty-ninth  parallel 
of  latitude  to  the  ocean  should  be  the  dividing 
line,  and  Great  Britain  had  become  willing  to 
follow  the  same  line  to  the  north-eastern 
branch  of  the  Columbia,  and  thence  down  that 
river  to  the  ocean. 

Probably  neither  party  was  entirely  free  from 
wrong.  By  arbitration  the  line  was  at  last  set 
tled  where  it  now  is,  and  we  are  not  disposed 
to  question  the  justice  of  that  decision.  If  this 
is  right,  then  the  claims  of  the  United  States 
north  of  it  were  wrong,  and  the  attempts  of 
Great  Britain  to  keep  that  portion  of  the  coun 
try  were  right.  Likewise  the  claims  of  the  lat- 


1 50  History  of  Indian  Missions 

ter  nation  south  of  that  line  were  wrong,  and 
the  efforts  of  the  United  States  and  her  citizens 
to  keep  that  part  of  the  country  were  right.  Let 
us  now  follow  these  latter  claims  of  Great  Brit 
ain,  and  the  opposing  efforts  of  the  United 
States,  to  their  final  settlement,  as  missionary 
work  had  much  to  do  in  regard  to  the  question. 
The  second  period,  that  of  joint  occupancy, 
as  far  as  the  United  States  were  concerned,  fairly 
began  with  the  treaty  of  1818,  but  this  could 
not  last  always.  The  United  States  was  not 
disposed  to  press  what  she  considered  her 
rights  too  far,  for  fear  that  Great  Britain  would 
resist  with  war,  and  for  a  similar  reason  Great 
Britain  did  not  dare  to  press  too  far  what  she 
claimed  as  her  rights.  Thus  each  nation  was 
disposed  to  recognize  in  a  measure  the  claim  of 
the  other,  although  there  were  prominent  indi 
viduals  in  each  nation  who  did  not  do  so,  as 
Senator  Benton,  who  said  :  "  The  claims  of 
Great  Britain  are  nothing  but  a  naked  preten 
sion  founded  on  the  double  purpose  of  benefit 
ing  herself  and  injuring  the  United  States ; 
while  Murray,  an  Englishman,  in  his  British 
America  (vol.  3,  p.  93),  said:  "The  Americans 
have  no  right  whatever  to  the  region  northward 
of  the  Columbia  River."  Hence  both  nations 
were  waiting  for  something  to  "  turn  up  "to 
settle  the  matter. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  151 

And  something  did  "turn  up"  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  at  first  in  a  business  way,  having  refer 
ence  mainly  to  individual  and  company  inter 
ests,  but  which  after  a  time  took  on  a  national 
character. 

In  March,  1811,  the  Pacific  Fur  Company, 
with  John  Jacob  Astor  at  its  head,  made  the 
first  permanent  settlement  in  the  country  by 
building  Astoria,  for  although  in  1808  the  Mis 
souri  Fur  Company  had  built  a  post  on  the 
headwaters  of  Snake  River,  yet  it  was  aban 
doned  in  1810.  In  May,  1813,  the  North-west 
ern  Fur  Company  entered,-  but  finding  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  occupied,  they  went  up 
the  river,  and  built  Fort  Okinagan.  Owing  to 
the  war  of  1812  with  England,  Astoria  was  sold 
to  the  North-western  Fur  Company  in  October, 
1813,  and  the  Americans  retired,  not  soon  again 
to  obtain  a  foothold  as  traders  or  settlers. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  were  at  that  time 
trading  mainly  in  the  country  bordering  on  the 
waters  which  flow  into  Hudson's  Straits.  The 
North-western  Company  were  also  in  the  same 
country  as  well  as  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  there 
were  continual  feuds  and  quarrels  between  them, 
which  at  last  resulted  in  such  bloody  battles 
that  the  British  Government  interfered,  and  in 
1821,  by  act  of  Parliament,  consolidated  the 
two  companies  under  the  name  of  the  Hudson's 


152  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Bay  Company,  the  Pacific  coast  being  at  the 
same  time  added  to  their  territory. 

When  that  company  began  trading  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  they  did  what  any  other  powerful 
company  would  probably  have  done,  either 
American,  British,  or  of  another  nation  ;  they 
tried  to  keep  all  other  fur  traders  out  of  the 
country,  and  were  successful. 

About  1824  or  1825  the  Rocky  Mountain  Fur 
Company,  composed  of  Americans,  crossed  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  trapped  on  the  head 
waters  of  Snake  River,  and  in  1827  they  de 
termined  to  push  the  enterprise  to  the  Pacific 
coast.  J.  Smith,  one  of  the  partners,  led  a 
party,  by  way  of  Santa  Fe,  to  the  Bay  of  San 
Francisco.  From  thence  they  proceeded  north 
ward  along  the  coast,  with  the  intention  of 
reaching  the  Columbia  River,  but  they  were 
attacked  by  the  Shasta  Indians  in  the  Umpqua 
valley,  all  but  four  of  the  party  being  killed  and 
twenty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  furs  lost. 

In  1832  Captain  Bonneville  led  an  expedi 
tion  of  one  hundred  men  into  the  trapping 
grounds  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where  they 
remained  nearly  three  years;  but  he  made  noth 
ing  and  retired. 

The  same  year  Mr.  Nathaniel  Wyeth  came 
overland  with  a  company  to  establish  a  salmon 
cannery  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  but  the 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  153 

vessel  which  he  had  sent  around  with  his  goods 
was  wrecked,  and  he  returned  East.  Two 
years  later  he  again  came,  having  sent  another 
vessel  around  Cape  Horn,  but  for  various 
reasons  he  found  the  business  unprofitable, 
and  sold  out  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
satisfied  that  no  company  less  powerful  could 
long  sustain  itself.  Other  companies  and  expe 
ditions,  eleven  of  which  are  enumerated  in 
Gray's  History  of  Oregon,  also  made  the  at 
tempt  to  trade  in  the  country,  but  all  failed, 
and  with  them  ended  American  efforts  to  trade 
with  the  Indians  on  the  north-west  coast. 

The  few  attempts  to  settle  the  country,  which 
were  made  by  the  Americans,  were  equally 
disastrous. 

President  Jefferson,  who  sent  Lewis  and 
Clarke  across  the  continent  in  1804,  accounted 
the  establishment  of  American  settlements  as 
of  great  national  importance.  As  early  as  1817 
Hall  J.  Kelly,  of  Boston,  conceived  the  idea  of 
colonizing  Oregon,  and  after  years  of  labor 
succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts  an  act  incorporating  the  "  Amer 
ican  Society  for  encouraging  settlement  in  the 
Oregon  Territory."  Both  British  and  Ameri 
can  Fur  Companies,  however,  discouraged  at 
tempts  to  settle  the  country;  and  although  two 
young  men  were  sent  across  the  country,  and 


1 54  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Mr.  Kelly  attempted  to  load  a  ship  to  come  by 
water,  this  enterprise  also  failed  because  of  the 
inaction  of  the  general  Government,  and  for  the 
causes  from  which  Captain  Wyeth  was  unsuc 
cessful.  He  then  endeavored  to  open  a  trade 
between  Mexico  and  Oregon,  but  in  Mexico  he 
lost  nearly  all  his  goods  by  the  revenue  officers, 
so  that  when  he  reached  Oregon,  he  had  so 
little  left  that  he  soon  after  retired,  having 
lost  a  fortune  of  more  than  thirty  thousand 
dollars. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Company  thus  remained 
in  actual  possession.  At  first  they  evidently 
attempted,  from  business  motives  and  in  order 
to  prevent  competition  and  make  money,  to 
keep  other  companies  out.  As  long  as  joint 
occupancy  was  likely  to  be  the  rule  they  were 
satisfied,  for  they  had  made  it  to  mean  occu 
pancy  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  But 
they  knew  that  this  state  of  matters  could  not 
always  last,  and  that  one  nation  or  the  other 
would  finally  possess  the  country;  hence,  from 
a  mere  business  point  of  view,  even  if  they  had 
no  patriotic  views  in  favor  of  their  own  govern 
ment,  it  was  natural  they  should  desire  that 
Great  Britain  should  own  the  country. 

They,  therefore,  began  to  work  for  this  end. 
One  way  to  secure  it  was  to  represent  the 
country  as  of  but  little  value,  and  a  wagon  road 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  155 

to  it  from  the  East  an  impossibility.  This  was 
done  in  order  that  when  the  matter  should  come 
to  be  finally  settled  by  treaty  the  United  States 
might  be  led  to  care  but  little  for  the  country. 

That  the  country  was  valuable,  not  only  as  a 
fur-producing  country,  but  also  in  mineral, 
agricultural  and  other  resources,  the  Hud 
son's  Bay  Company  was  well  aware  at  an 
early  day;  nevertheless  it  sought  to  suppress 
information  on  these  points.  Says  Rev.  C. 
Eells,  in  a  letter  dated  May  28,  1866  :  "  If  I  re 
member  correctly,  I  had  not  been  long  in  this 
country  before  the  statement  was  made  that 
gold  had  been  found  on  the  Columbia  River, 
taken  to  England,  made  into  a  watch  seal, 
brought  back  here,  and  worn  by  a  gentleman 
connected  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 

In  the  autumn  or  early  winter  of 

1843,  a  German  botanist  was  traveling  with  em 
ployees  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  and  hav 
ing  had  some  knowledge  of  mining  operations 
in  Germany,  he  expressed  to  his  fellow  travel 
ers  the  opinion  that  precious  metals  existed  in 
a  designated  locality.  He  was  particularly  in 
terrogated  as  to  the  reasons  for  such  an  opinion, 
and  when  they  were  satisfied  that  it  was  an  in 
telligent  conclusion,  they  replied  :  '  We  know 
such  to  be  the  case  from  actual  observation.' 

"  But  while  the  resources  of  the  country  were 


1 56  History  of  Indian  Missions 

measurably  appreciated,  special  effort  was  made 
to  produce  the  impression  that  the  country  was 
of  small  value,  and  that  much  of  it  was  worth 
less.  In  entire  accordance  with  such  repre 
sentations,  Chief  Factor  A.  McDonald  express 
ed  himself  distinctly  and  fully  to  me.  He  also 
gave  it  as  his  opinion,  that  if  England  should 
obtain  the  desired  portion  of  Oregon  (then  in 
cluding  Washington  Territory),  it  would  be 
made  over  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company." 

In  1839  Rev.  J.  S.  Griffin  and  his  missionary 
associates  traveled  from  the  western  frontier  to 
Fort  Hall  with  wagons.  They  were  told  by 
agents  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  that  it 
was  impracticable,  if  not  impossible,  to  take 
their  wagons  to  Walla  Walla.  Consequently 
teams  and  wagons  were  exchanged  for  pack 
animals  and  fixtures.  In  1840  Rev.  H.  Clarke 
and  other  missionary  laborers  performed  the 
same  journey  in  like  manner.  At  Fort  Hall 
[in  Eastern  Idaho]  they  were  induced  to  leave 
their  wagons. 

In  1842  the  same  misrepresentations  were 
again  successful  with  a  small  company  of  emi 
grants,  led  by  Dr.  E.  White;  and  in  1843  it  was 
tried  again,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see,  with 
the  emigration  which  was  led  by  Dr.  Whitman. 
Before  Mrs.  Whitman  and  Mrs.  Spalding  crossed 
the  mountains  in  1836,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  157 

pany  had  said  that  neither  wagons  or  women 
could  cross  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

Mr.  John  Dunn  wrote  a  work  on  the  Oregon 
Territory,  about  1843  or  1844.  He  was  for 
eight  years  a  resident  of  the  country,  in  the 
employ  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company;  first  for 
a  year  as  assistant  store-keeper  at  Vancouver, 
and  then  as  trader  and  interpreter  on  the  whole 
north-west  coast  ;  and,  after  that,  he  was  in 
charge  of  Fort  George,  at  Astoria. 

In  his  preface  he  says :  "  On  my  return  [to 
England],  although  I  was,  from  my  knowledge 
of  those  Americans  that  traded  on  the  coast, 
or  had  squatted  in  the  south-west,  part  of  Ore 
gon,  or  have  lately  been  employed  by  the  com 
pany  as  trappers,  prepared  to  hear  any  mon 
strous  assumption  of  right  set  forth  by  the 
American  populace,  I  did  not  expect  that  the 
respectable  portion  of  the  press,  much  less  their 
functionaries  or  ministers  of  state,  even  up  to 
the  President,  would  echo  the  opinion  of  the 
rabble  that  controls  the  Legislature.  But,  to 
my  surprise,  I  found  that  the  subject  was 
viewed  by  them  through  democratic  spectacles. 

Hence,  I  imagined  that  a  true 

and  dispassionate  account  of  the  whole  country 
would  tend  to  place  the  whole  question  on  its 
proper  basis." 

In  giving  this  true  and  dispassionate  account 


158  History  of  Indian  Missions 

he  says  :  "  As  a  whole,  the  country  is  not  favor 
able  to  agriculture,  though  there  are  many  fer 
tile  districts  in  it.  It  is,  in  a  word,  chiefly  val 
uable  for  trade."  The  Americans  know  that  it 
is  a  highway  to  China,  "  hence  their  extraordi 
nary  anxiety  and  exertions  to  effect  a  lodgment 
there.  Hence,  too,  their  exaggerated  claims, 
their  misrepresentations,  contemptible  bluster 
and  impotent  menaces,  though  they  know  it  is 
valuable  mainly  for  trade."  Again.  "  Although 
several  parties  have  penetrated  into  the  Ore 
gon  Territory,  from  the  United  States,  through 
the  gorge,  and  over  the  towering  heights  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  yet  it  may  be  safely  asserted 
from  the  concurrent  testimony  of  traders,  trap 
pers,  and  settlers,  who  have  themselves  passed 
these  natural  barriers,  that  the  difficulties  are 
so  numerous  and  formidable,  and  the  time  nec 
essary  for  the  passage  so  long,  that  there  is  no 
secure,  expeditious,  or  commodious  track,  which 
can  ever  be  used  as  a  highway,  so  as  to  afford 
facilities  for  an  influx  of  emigrants  overland. 

"None  but  the  wild  and  fearless  free-trappers 
can  clamber  over  these  precipices,  and  tread 

these  deserts  with  security It  is  true  there 

have  been  published  more  favorable  accounts, 
within  the  last  year  or  two,  by  parties  who 
have  made  the  journey  safely,  and  who  encour 
age  others  to  make  a  similar  experiment,  but 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  159 

these  accounts  are  mere  bravado."  And  after 
these  remarks  he  gives  a  terrible  description  of 
that  portion  of  the  country. 

The  Edinburgh  Review  for  1843  a^so  savs  : 
"  However  the  political  question  between  Eng 
land  and  the  United  States,  as  to  the  owner 
ship  of  Oregon,  may  be  decided,  Oregon  will 
never  be  colonized  overland  from  the  United 
States.  The  world  must  assume  a  new  phase 
before  the  American  wagons  will  make  plain 
the  road  to  the  Columbia,  as  they  have  done  to 
the  Ohio." 

Although  as  a  general  thing  the  English 
were  inclined  to  acknowledge  the  rights  of  the 
United  States  south  of  the  Columbia,  yet  ef 
forts  were  made  to  obtain  even  that.  As  early 
as  1828  they  took  possession  of  the  Willamette 
Falls,  at  Oregon  City,  with  a  view,  as  Sir 
George  Simpson,  their  Governor-General,  said, 
to  the  establishment  of  a  British  colony  of  their 
retired  servants  in  the  valley  above,  and  this 
colony  was  settled  about  Champoeg  or  French 
Prairie.  He  also  said,  in  1841-2,  that  the  col 
onists  in  the  Willamette  valley  were  British 
subjects,  and  that  the  English  had  no  rivals  but 
the  Russians;  that  "the  United  States  will 
never  possess  more  than  a  nominal  jurisdiction, 
nor  long  possess  even  that  on  the  west  side  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains;  and  supposing  the  coun- 


160  History  of  Indian  Missions 

try  to  be  divided  to-morrow,  to  the  entire  satis 
faction  of  the  most  unscrupulous  patriot  in  the 
Union,  I  challenge  conquest  to  bring  my  pre 
diction  and  its  own  power  to  the  test,  by  im 
posing  the  Atlantic  tariff  on  the  ports  of  the 
Pacific." 

Chief  Factor  McDonald  also  said  to  Mr  Eells, 
in  1842,  that  in  fifty  years  the  whole  country 
would  be  filled  with  the  descendants  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Dr.  John  McLaugh- 
lin,  the  Superintendent  of  the  Company  in  Ore 
gon  from  1824,  was  generally  kind  to  the 
Americans,  and  did  much  to  assist  the  poor 
emigrants  of  1842,  1843,  and  1844,  by  loaning 
them  seed,  and  furnishing  them  with  provisions. 
For  this,  in  1844,  he  was  called  to  account  by 
the  Directors  of  the  Company,  who  insisted 
upon  the  enforcement  of  their  stringent  rule, 
to  starve  or  drive  every  American  from  the 
country.  But  his  heart  was  too  tender  for  this, 
to  see  human  beings,  even  if  they  were  Amer 
icans,  starving  when  he  had  under  his  control 
the  means  to  help  them,  and  so  he  resigned, 
telling  them:  "If  such  is  your  order,  gentlemen, 
I  will  serve  you  no  longer." 

Probably  Americans,  if  they  had  been  in  the 
same  circumstances,  would  have  done  the  same 
thing.  In,  fact  the  commission  which  finally 
settled  the  boundary,  and  condemned  Great 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  161 

Britain  for  claiming  the  country  south  of  the 
present  line,  also  condemned  the  Americans 
for  claiming  as  far  north  as  "  fifty-four  degrees, 
forty  minutes,  or  fight."  Still  the  passages 
quoted  in  regard  to  the  value  of  the  country, 
and  the  difficulty  of  crossing  the  continent,  seem 
strange  in  the  light  of  later  years. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  English  had 
possession  of  the  country  as  traders  and  as 
settlers,  and  by  these  representations  were  en 
deavoring  to  obtain  it  by  treaty.  This  was 
the  result  of  joint  occupancy,  when,  in  1834,  a 
new  element  arrived — the  missionaries.  When 
an  old  trapper  saw  Mrs.  Whitman  and  Mrs. 
Spalding  on  their  way  across  the  mountains  in 
1836,  he  said:  "  There  is  something  which  the 
Honorable  Hudson's  Bay  Company  cannot 
drive  out  of  the  country,  "  and  his  words  were 
prophetic. 

The  missionaries  did  not  come  to  the  coun 
try  to  save  it  from  falling  into  the  hands  of 
Great  Britain.  They  had  higher  motives;  love 
to  God,  and  to  savages  with  immortal  souls. 
They  were  not,  however,  devoid  of  another  vir 
tue,  which  perhaps  comes  next  to  this — love  of 
country.  When  they  were  in  Oregon,  they, 
as  intelligent  persons,  could  not  help  learning 
something  of  the  value  of  the  country,  nor  some 
of  the  efforts  which  were  being  made  by  the 


1 62  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Hudson's  Bay  Company  to  obtain  it,  and  as 
patriotic  men  it  was  not  strange  that  some  of 
them  should  have  strong  feeling  on  the  subject, 
and  endeavor  to  counteract  these  efforts,  espe 
cially  when  they  believed  it  could  be  done,  while 
at  the  same  time  their  reputation  for  truth  should 
not  suffer. 

Some  statements  made  by  Chief  Factor  Mc 
Donald  to  Rev.  C.  Eells  have  already  been 
quoted.  Mr.  Eells  also  wrote  :  "  In  1842,  if  I 
mistake  not,  the  same  gentleman  asked  me 
who,  fifty  years  hence,  would  probably  com 
pose  the  inhabitants  of  this  country  ?  He  an 
swered  the  question  himself,  by  saying  sub 
stantially,  '  The  descendants  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company/  Dr.  Whitman  said,  with  ref 
erence  to  the  same  class  of  persons  (of  mixed 
blood),  *  fifty  years  hence  they  will  not  be 
found.'  ....  In  those  early  days  Dr.  Whit 
man  made  in  my  hearing  the  following  state 
ment  :  '  There  is  no  doubt  that  this  country 
abounds  in  precious  metals.'  .  .  .  He  under 
stood,  with  a  good  degree  of  correctness,  appa 
rently,  that  it  was  the  plan  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  to  secure  the  country  to  the 
English  Government.  Undoubtedly  he  felt 
strongly  with  reference  to  this  subject.  At  that 
time  his  missionary  associates  judged  that  he 
was  disturbed  to  an  unwarrantable  degree. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  163 

The  result  has  furnished  accumulative  evidence 
that  there  was  sufficient  reason  for  determined 
earnestness  on  his  part.  An  unyielding  pur 
pose  was  formed  by  Dr.  Whitman  to  go  east. 
The  mission  was  called  together  to  consider 
whether  or  not  its  approval  could  be  given  to 
the  proposed  undertaking.  Mr.  Walker  and 
myself  were  decidedly  opposed,  and  we  yielded 
only  when  it  became  evident  that  he  would 
go,  even  if  he  had  to  become  disconnected 
with  the  mission  in  order  to  do  so." 

According  to  a  later  statement  of  Mr.  Eells, 
the  call  for  this  meeting  was  received  at  his 
station  in  September,  1842,  with  a  statement 
of  the  proposed  business.  Promptly  Mr.  Walker 
and  himself  reported  themselves  at  Dr.  Whit 
man's  station,  and  there  were  also  present  Rev. 
H.  H.  Spalding,  Mr.  W.  H.  Gray,  and  Dr. 
Whitman,  all  the  male  members  of  the  mission. 
"  After  an  extended  discussion,  it  was  voted 
unanimously  that  Dr.  Whitman  have  the  ap 
proval  of  the  mission  to  attempt  to  make  the 
journey  as  hereinbefore  indicated.  The  con 
trolling  object  was  to  make  a  desperate  effort 
to  save  the  country  to  the  United  States.  It 
was  also  expected  that  the  opportunity  would 
be  improved  for  the  transaction  of  business  re 
lating  to  the  mission.  The  fifth  day  of  the  fol 
lowing  October  was  set  as  the  day  on  which 


164  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Dr.  Whitman  would  start.  Letters  were  to  be 
prepared  and  forwarded  accordingly.  Probably 
events  transpiring  in  the  intervening  time  has 
tened  his  departure,  so  that  he  left  on  the  third 
of  October." 

Let  us  now  turn  and  see  what  these  events 
probably  were.  It  has  been  seen  that  up  to 
1834  all  efforts  for  colonizing  the  country,  or 
trading  in  it,  by  the  Americans,  had  failed,  and 
that  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  were  mon- 
archs  of  all  they  surveyed.  At  that  time  the 
Methodists  began  their  mission  in  the  Willa 
mette  valley.  The  policy  of  this  mission  was 
somewhat  different  from  that  of  the  American 
Board,  in  that  it  used  far  more  lay  members. 
By  May,  1840,  when  their  last  reinforcement 
arrived,  twenty-six  male  workers  had  come  to 
the  country,  of  whom  only  nine  were  clergy 
men,  the  rest  being  farmers,  mechanics,  physi 
cians,  and  the  like,  and  the  whole  number  con 
nected  with  the  mission,  including  women  and 
children,  was  about  seventy-five.  This  was 
quite  a  settlement  of  Americans,  and  numbered 
more  than  all  other  American  efforts  combined 
had  been  able  to  gather.  There  were  also  a 
number  of  American  free  trappers  and  adven 
turers,  who  had  settled  in  the  valley,  and  who, 
although  they  by  no  means  agreed  with  the 
members  of  the  mission  on  religious  points,  yet 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  165 

did  politically  combine  with  them  as  a  nucleus, 
and  thus  the  Americans  outnumbered  the  Brit 
ish  settlers. 

Here,  then,  was  an  entering  wedge  which 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  could  not  get  rid 
of  in  any  reasonable  way.  The  members  of  the 
mission  had  not  come  to  trade  for  furs,  nor  with 
the  primary  object  of  making  a  settlement,  but 
to  teach  the  Indians.  The  Company  understood 
the  dilemma  in  which  they  were  placed — either 
to  let  a  settlement  of  Americans  remain,  or  in 
some  way  drive  out  a  band  of  missionaries.  It 
was  discussed  at  their  forts.  They  saw,  says 
Mr.  Dunn,  that  the  mission,  as  far  as  the  Indi 
ans  were  concerned,  was  likely  to  prove  a  fail 
ure,  for  they  were  fast  disappearing,  and  that 
the  result  would  be  an  American  settlement. 
There  were  two  parties  at  the  forts,  one  of 
which  thought  that  they  ought  to  get  rid  of 
the  Americans  in  some  way,  but  the  other, 
which  was  by  far  in  the  majority,  knew  that 
this  could  not  be  done  so  easily  as  it  had  been 
done  in  the  case  of  rival  fur  companies,  for  the 
Americans  had  as  good  a  right  to  remain,  ac 
cording  to  the  treaty,  as  the  British,  and  there 
was  no  reason  to  be  given,  which  would  look 
well,  for  driving  out  missionaries.  Mr.  Dunn, 
as  a  Protestant,  thought  that  the  English  So 
cieties  ought  to  send  missionaries  to  these  In- 


1 66  History  of  Indian  Missions 

dians,  and  were  to  blame  for  neglecting  them, 
but  the  Company  knew  that  it  would  be  as 
useless  for  English  missionaries  to  enter  the 
Willamette  valley  to  labor  for  the  Indians  as  it 
had  been  for  the  Methodists. 

One  way  remained.  It  was  to  bring  an  emi 
gration  of  British  subjects  to  the  country,  and  so 
outnumber  the  Americans.  Both  parties  now 
began  to  see  plainly  that  without  actual  occu 
pation,  the  claims  of  neither  nation  amounted 
to  much.  To  plant  "  thirty  thousand  rifles  in 
the  Valley  of  the  Columbia  "  had  long  been  ad 
vocated  by  Senator  Benton,  of  Missouri,  and  a 
few  others,  as  the  surest  ground  of  title.  On 
the  other  hand,  as  late  as  1844,  an  able  writer 
in  the  North  British  Review  earnestly  called 
the  attention  of  his  countrymen  to  the  impera 
tive  necessity  of  prompt  organized  efforts  to 
colonize  Oregon,  and  thus  secure  the  title  to  the 
country;  and  he  claimed  that  even  then  there 
was  time,  and  only  time,  for  the  necessary 
action. 

But  previous  to  that  time,  in  order  as  quickly 
as  possible  to  counteract  the  settlements  of 
Americans  already  in  the  Willamette,  in  1841 
an  emigration  was  brought  through  from  the 
Red  River  settlement,  north  of  Minnesota. 
This  was  done  by  direction  of  their  Governor- 
General,  Sir  George  Simpson.  It  numbered 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  167 

After  Dr.  Whitman  had  decided  to  go  East, 
the  immigration  of  1842  arrived  from  the  West 
ern  States.  From  it,  and  especially  from  Hon. 
A.  L.  Lovejoy,  of  that  immigration,  he  learned 
that  the  United  States  was  about  to  exchange 
Oregon,  or  a  part  .of  it,  for  a  share  in  the  cod- 
fisheries  of  New  Foundland,  because  of  repre 
sentations  made  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
that  the  country  was  a  barren  waste.  Know 
ing  the  value  of  the  country,  Dr.  Whitman 
went  to  Fort  Walla  Walla  (now  Wallula),  to 
learn  about  the  proposed  trade.  He  was  in 
formed  that  this  was  the  expectation,  and  was 
reminded  of  the  Red  River  immigration  of  the 
year  previous,  as  a  witness  to  that  expectation. 
He  soon  returned  home,  engaged  Mr.  Lovejoy 
to  accompany  him  on  his  trip,  who  was  also 
anxious  to  see  the  trade  stopped,  and  they 
started  October  3d,  1842.  Dr.  Whitman  saw 
that  one  way  to  counteract  this  movement,  if 
no  better  one  should  present  itself,  was  to  in 
duce  an  immigration  of  Americans  to  come  to 
the  country,  which  should  be  so  large  that  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  would  relinquish  all 
efforts  in  that  direction,  when  it  should  see  its 
own  immigration  far  outnumbered.  He  also 
purposed  to  attend  to  business  connected  with 
the  mission,  though  this  was  a  subordinate 
affair,  and  it  alone  would  not  have  induced  him 
to  go  east. 


1 68  History  of  Indian  Missions 

A  trip  across  the  continent  at  any  time  in 
those  days  was  a  great  undertaking  ;  at  the 
present  time  on  horseback  it  is  liable  to  meet 
with  severe  difficulties  in  the  winter,  for  both 
stages  and  railroads  are  often  stopped  by  snow 
storms.  Dr.  Whitman's  journey  combined  both 
the  severity  of  the  winter  weather  and  the  diffi 
culties  of  that  early  day.  Mr.  Lovejoy,  his  sur 
viving  companion,  in  a  letter  dated  February 
14,  1876,  has  described  some  of  the  difficulties 
of  that  journey. 

They  rode  to  Fort  Hall  in  eleven  days.  At 
that  place  Captain  Grant,  then  in  charge,  in 
order  to  prevent  Dr.  Whitman  from  going  East, 
falsely  said  that  the  Pawnees  and  Sioux  were 
at  war  with  each  other,  and  it  would  be  almost 
certain  death  for  him  to  proceed.  Determined 
to  go,  he  changed  to  a  more  southern  route  ; 
but  the  statement,  although  false,  most  likely 
proved  to  be  salvation  for  Dr.  Whitman,  as,  on 
account  of  the  severity  of  the  winter,  he  would 
probably  have  perished,  had  he  traveled  the 
contemplated  route.  Hence,  they  went  by 
way  of  Salt  Lake,  Fort  Winte,  Fort  Uncom- 
pagra,  Taos  and  Santa  Fe.  Having  left  Fort 
Uncompagra  in  the  Spanish  country,  says  Mr. 
Lovejoy,  "  we  took  a  new  guide  and  started 
for  Taos.  After  being  out  some  four  or  five 
days,  we  encountered  a  terrific  snow-storm, 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  169 

which  forced  us  to  seek  shelter  in  a  deep  ravine, 
where  we  remained  snowed  in  for  four  days,  at 
which  time  the  storm  had  somewhat  abated, 
and  we  attempted  to  make  our  way  out  upon 
the  high  lands,  but  the  snow  was  so  deep  and 
the  winds  so  piercing  and  cold  we  were  com 
pelled  to  return  to  camp  and  wait  a  few  days 
for  a  change  of  weather.  Our  next  effort  to 
reach  the  highlands  was  more  successful  ;  but 
after  spending  several  days  wandering  around 
in  the  snow  without  making  much  headway, 
our  guide  told  us  that  the  deep  snow  had  so 
changed  the  face  of  the  country  that  he  was 
completely  lost  and  could  take  us  no  further. 
This  was  a  terrible  blow  to  the  doctor,  but  he 
was  determined  not  to  give  it  up  without  an 
other  effort.  We  at  once  agreed  that  the  doc 
tor  should  take  the  guide  and  return  to  Fort 
Uncompagra  and  get  a  new  guide,  and  I  re 
main  in  camp  with  the  animals  until  he  could 
return,  which  he  did  in  seven  days  with  our 
new  guide,  and  we  were  now  on  our  route 
again.  Nothing  of  much  import  occurred  but 
hard  and  slow  traveling  through  deep  snow, 
until  we  reached  Grand  River,  which  was  frozen 
on  either  side  about  one-third  across.  Al 
though  so  intensely  cold,  the  current  was  so 
very  rapid  about  one-third  of  the  river  in  the 
centre  was  not  frozen.  Our  guide  thought  it 


170  History  of  Indian  Missions 

would  be  dangerous  to  attempt  to  cross  the 
river  in  its  present  condition,  but  the  doctor, 
nothing  daunted,  was  the  first  to  take  the 
water.  He  mounted  his  horse — the  guide  and 
myself  shoved  the  doctor  and  his  horse  off  the 
ice  into  the  foaming  stream.  Away  he  went  com 
pletely  under  water,  horse  and  all,  but  directly 
came  up,  and  after  buffeting  the  rapid  foaming 
current,  he  reached  the  ice  on  the  opposite 
shore  a  long  way  down  the  stream.  He  leaped 
from  his  horse  upon  the  ice,  and  soon  had  his 
noble  animal  by  his  side.  The  guide  and  my 
self  forced  in  the  pack  animals  and  followed 
the  doctor's  example,  and  were  soon  on  the 
opposite  shore  drying  our  frozen  clothes  by  a 
comfortable  fire.  We  reached  Taos  in  about 
thirty  days,  suffered  greatly  from  cold  and 
scarcity  of  provisions.  We  were  compelled  to 
use  mule  meat,  dogs,  and  such  other  animals  as 
came  in  our  reach.  We  remained  at  Taos  a 
few  days  only,  and  started  for  Bent's  and 
Savery's  Fort,  on  the  head-waters  of  the  Ar 
kansas  River.  When  we  had  been  out  some  fif 
teen  or  twenty  days,  we  met  George  Bent,  a 
brother  of  Gov.  Bent,  on  his  way  to  Taos.  He 
told  us  that  a  party  of  mountain  men  would 
leave  Bent's  Fort  in  a  few  days  for  St.  Louis, 
but  said  we  would  not  reach  the  fort  with  our 
pack  animals  in  time  to  join  the  party.  The 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  171 

doctor  being  very  anxious  to  join  the  party  so 
he  could  push  on  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  Wash 
ington,  concluded  to  leave  myself  and  guide 
with  the  animals,  and  he  himself,  taking  the 
best  animal,  with  some  bedding  and  a  small  al 
lowance  of  provision,  started  alone,  hoping  by 
rapid  travel  to  reach  the  fort  in  time  to  join 
the  St.  Louis  party;  but  to  do  so  he  would  have 
to  travel  on  the  Sabbath — something  we  had 
not  done  before.  Myself  and  guide  traveled  on 
slowly  and  reached  the  fort  in  four  days,  but 
imagine  our  astonishment  when,  on  making  in 
quiry  about  the  doctor,  we  were  told  that  he 
had  not  arrived  nor  had  he  been  heard  of.  I 
learned  that  the  party  for  St.  Louis  was  camped 
at  the  Big  Cottonwood,  forty  miles  from  the 
fort,  and  at  my  request  Mr.  Savery  sent  an  ex 
press,  telling  the  party  not  to  proceed  any 
further  until  we  learned  something  of  Dr. 
Whitman's  whereabouts,  as  he  wished  to  ac 
company  them  to  St.  Louis.  Being  furnished 
by  the  gentlemen  of  the  fort  with  a  suitable 
guide,  I  started  in  search  of  the  doctor,  and 
traveled  up  the  river  about  one  hundred  miles. 
I  learned  from  the  Indians  that  a  man  had  been 
there  who  was  lost  and  was  trying  to  find  Bent's 
Fort.  They  said  they  had  directed  him  to  go 
down  the  river  and  how  to  find  the  fort.  I 
knew  from  their  description  it  was  the  doctor. 


172  History  of  Indian  Missions 

I  returned  to  the  fort  as  rapidly  as  possible,  but 
the  doctor  had  not  arrived.  We  had  all  become 
very  anxious  about  him. 

"  Late  in  the  afternoon  he  came  in,  very  much 
fatigued  and  desponding;  said  that  he  knew 
that  God  had  bewildered  him  to  punish  him  for 
traveling  on  the  Sabbath.  During  the  whole 
trip  he  was  very  regular  in  his  morning  and 
evening  devotions,  and  that  was  the  only  time 
I  ever  knew  him  to  travel  on  the  Sabbath. 

"  The  doctor  remained  all  night  at  the  fort, 
starting  early  on  the  following  morning  to  join 
the  St.  Louis  party.  Here  we  parted.  The 
doctor  proceeded  to  Washington.  I  remained 
at  Bent's  Fort  until  spring,  and  joined  the  doc 
tor  the  following  July  near  Fort  Laramie  on 
his  way  to  Oregon,  in  company  with  a  train  of 
emigrants.  He  often  expressed  himself  to  me 
about  the  remainder  of  his  journey  and  the 
manner  in  which  he  was  received  at  Washing 
ton  and  by  the  Board  for  Foreign  Missions  at 
Boston.  He  had  several  interviews  with  Presi 
dent  Tyler,  Secretary  Webster,  and  a  good 
many  members  of  Congress,  Congress  being  in 
session  at  that  time.  He  urged  the  immediate 
termination  of  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain 
relative  to  this  country,  and  begged  them  to 
extend  the  laws  of  the  United  States  over  Ore 
gon,  and  asked  for  liberal  inducements  to  emi- 


On  th&  Pacific  Coast.  173 

grants  to  come  to  this  coast.  He  was  very 
cordially  and  kindly  received  by  the  President 
and  members  of  Congress,  and  without  doubt, 
the  doctor's  interviews  resulted  greatly  to  the 
benefit  of  Oregon  and  to  this  coast." 

"A  gentleman — Dr.  William  Barrows,  then  a 
teacher  in  St.  Louis,  now  of  Boston,  Secretary 
of  the  Massachusetts  H.  M.  Society — who  saw 
him  clad  in  his  buffalo  and  blanket  robes,  with 
frozen  feet  and  hands,  standing  among  the 
mountaineers  in  St.  Louis  on  a  morning  late  in 
February,  1843,  resisting  their  entreaties  to 
stop  and  tell  the  story  of  his  winter  trip,  and 
then  hasten  on  to  Washington,  though  then 
ignorant  of  his  aim,  never  forgot  the  impression 
of  his  energy  and  earnest  purpose."* 

When  he  reached  Missouri,  he  learned  that 
the  danger  of  losing  Oregon  was  very  great; 
hence  he  rushed  on  without  taking  time  to 
obtain  a  clean  shirt  or  pair  of  pants,  and  soon, 
almost  unconscious  of  his  ridiculous  appearance 
— an  awkward,  tall,  spare-visaged,  vigorous,  off 
hand  sort  of  a  man,  with  buckskin  pants  and 
English  duffle  overcoat,  darkened  by  contact 
with  camp  fires,  appeared  before  Hon.  Daniel 
Webster,  Secretary  of  State.  He  found  pre 
liminary  negotiations  in  progress  between  Sec- 

*  Dr.  Atkinson's  address  before  the  Pioneer  and  Historical 
Society  in  1876. 


1/4  History  of  Indian  Missions 

retary  Webster  and  influential  persons  from 
England,  to  trade  off  Oregon,  or  at  least  a  part 
of  it,  for  Newfoundland.  He  found  that  Gov 
ernor  Simpson  had  made  the  same  representa 
tions  there  as  had  been  made  on  the  Pacific 
coast  in  regard  to  the  worthlessness  of  the 
country,  and  the  difficulty  of  access,  and  al 
though  not  an  official  representative  of  the 
English  Government,  but  merely,  as  an  officer 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  a  lobbyist  for 
the  Government,  so  well  had  he  succeeded, 
that  Secretary  Webster  was  convinced,  and 
Dr.  Whitman  could  not  change  him.  He  how 
ever  next  visited  President  Tyler,  and  with  all 
his  powers  urged  the  same  policy  and  argu 
ments  upon  him,  and  at  last  was  able  to  obtain 
from  him  a  promise,  not  that  the  negotiations 
then  in  progress  should  be  entirely  broken  off, 
but  that  they  should  be  suspended  until  Dr. 
Whitman  should  show  whether  or  not  the 
emigrants  could  be  led  through.  It  is  said,  on 
good  authority,  that  he  spoke  substantially  as 
follows:  "  Dr.  Whitman,  since  you  are  a  mis 
sionary,  I  will  believe  you.  The  negotiations 
shall  be  suspended  until  you  have  time  to  lead 
the  emigration  through,  and  if  you  are  success 
ful  I  will  use  my  influence  to  prevent  the  bar 
gain  from  being  made;"  a  noble  tribute  to  the 
reliable  reputation  of  missionaries.  "  That  is 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  175 

all  I  want,"  said  Dr.  Whitman.  He  then  im 
mediately  sent  back  word  to  Missouri,  and  in 
some  way  had  it  published  that  he  would  aid 
those  emigrants  who  wished  to  go  to  Oregon. 
Having  learned  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com 
pany  had  published  that  it  was  impracticable 
for  wagons  to  reach  the  Columbia  River,  he 
still  said  he  would  aid  them  until  they  should 
finish  the  journey.  There  is  but  little,  if  any 
doubt,  that  on  the  strength  of  these  statements, 
and  others  which  he  made  in  regard  to  the  cli 
mate,  soil,  and  value  of  the  country,  many  were 
induced  to  start  that  year  for  Oregon. 

He  next  attended  to  missionary  business  at 
Boston,  after  which  he  visited  his  relatives  for 
a  short  time.  It  is  said  that  he  was  met  coldly 
by  the  secretaries  of  the  Missionary  Society,  as 
having  left  his  post  without  instructions,  and 
having  involved  the  Board  in  unnecessary  ex 
pense,  for  they  did  not  realize,  as  he  did,  the 
importance  of  the  journey.  This  reception  he 
could  not  afterwards  forget,  but  the  Society,  as 
well  as  the  missionaries  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
who  opposed  the  effort,  have  since  gladly  ac 
knowledged  that  they  were  wrong  and  he  was 
right,  and  have  given  him  the  honor  due  to 
such  labors. 

By  May  he  was  on  his  way  back.  He  over 
took  the  emigration  of  about  eight  hundred 


176  History  of  Indian  Missions 

and  seventy-five  people,  including  the  women 
and  children,  with  one  hundred  and  eleven 
wagons,  and  about  two  thousand  horses  and 
cattle,  near  the  Platte  River,  and  nobly  did  he 
fulfill  his  promise  to  them.  The  work,  how 
ever,  was  very  great.  "  Those  who  saw  him 
overtaking  the  emigrants  whom  he  had  encour 
aged  to  start,  at  the  North  Platte  River  in 
June,  1843,  and  bid  them  throw  away  their  skin 
boats,  prepared  for  crossing,  and  saw  him  for 
three  days  crossing  and  recrossing  that  wide 
stream,  swimming  his  horse  to  find  the  best 
ford,  and  at  last  heard  him  order  the  one  hun 
dred  or  more  teams  and  wagons  to  be  chained 
together  and  driven  in  one  long  line  to  ford  for 
two  miles  that  river  swollen  by  spring  floods, 
cheering  the  drivers,  permitting  not  a  moment's 
halt,  lest  they  should  sink  in  the  quicksands, 
will  never  forget  the  man  and  the  deed,"*  as 
some  who  attempted  to  have  their  own  way  at 
that  time  now  testify. 

Says  Hon.  J.  W.  Nesmith,  late  member  of 
Congress  from  Oregon,  who  was  in  the  emigra 
tion  of  that  year:  "I  regard  him  [Dr.  Whit 
man]  as  a  quiet,  unassuming  man,  and  of  great 
purity  of  character.  He  was  of  a  powerful 
physical  organization,  and  possessed  a  great 

*  Dr.  Atkinson's  address  before  the  Pioneer  Historical  Society 
in  1876. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  177 

and  good  heart,  full  of  charity  and  courage,  and 
utterly  destitute  of  hypocrisy,  shams  and  effem 
inacy,  and  always  terribly  in  earnest.  While 
with  us  he  was  clad  entirely  in  buckskin.  The 
doctor  spent  much  of  his  time  in  hunting  out 
the  best  route  for  the  wagons,  and  would 
plunge  into  streams  in  search  of  practical  fords, 
regardless  of  the  depth  or  temperature  of  the 
water,  and  sometimes,  after  the  fatigue  of  a 
hard  day's  march,  would  spend  much  of  the 
night  in  going  from  one  party  to  another  to 
minister  to  the  sick.  His  moral  example  was 
of  the  highest  character." 

Often  he  performed  two  days'  work  in  one, 
riding  here  and  there,  searching  for  the  best 
way,  and  leaving  bits  of  paper  in  different 
places  saying,  "  this  way"  or  "  that  way." 

When  they  reached  Fort  Hall,  where  wagons 
had  in  previous  years  been  traded  to  the  Hud 
son's  Bay  Company  for  pack  animals,  because 
of  the  representations  of  that  Company,  at  an 
opportune  moment,  while  Dr.  Whitman  was  ab 
sent  from  camp,  the  same  representations  were 
made  to  the  emigrants.  They  were  told  that 
they  must  either  trade  off  their  wagons  or  go 
to  California.  "  For  instance,"  says  Gen.  Joel 
Palmer,  of  that  year's  emigration,  "  the  two 
crossings  of  Snake  River,  and  the  crossing  of 
the  Columbia  and  other  smaller  streams,  were 


1/8  History  of  Indian  Missions 

represented  as  being  attended  with  great  dan 
ger;  also  that  no  company  heretofore  attempt 
ing  the  passage  of  these  streams  succeeded  but 
with  the  loss  of  men,  from  the  violence  and  ra 
pidity  of  the  currents.  In  addition  to  the  above, 
it  was  asserted  that  three  or  four  tribes  of  In 
dians  in  the  middle  regions  had  combined  for 
the  purpose  of  preventing  our  passage  through 
their  country.  In  case  we  escaped  destruction 
at  the  hands  of  the  savages,  that  a  more  fear 
ful  enemy,  famine,  would  attend  our  march,  as 
the  distance  was  so  great  that  winter  would 
overtake  us  before  making  the  Cascade  Moun 
tains.  On  the  other  hand,  as  an  inducement  to 
pursue  the  California  route,  we  were  informed 
of  the  shortness  of  the  route  when  compared 
with  that  to  Oregon,  as  also  of  the  many  other 
superior  advantages  it  possessed."* 

When  Dr.  Whitman  returned  to  camp  he 
found  them  in  a  sad  state — some  in  tears,  and 
some  almost  ready  to  accept  the  statements 
made.  At  this  juncture  he  is  said  to  have  ad 
dressed  them  substantially  as  follows:  "  My 
countrymen,  you  have  trusted  me  thus  far;  be 
lieve  me  now;  I  will  take  your  wagons  to  the 
Columbia  River."  They  did  so,  and  again 
started  over  an  unknown  wagon  road. 

On  account  of  the  need  of  his  professional 

*  Gray's  History  of  Oregon,  page  367. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  179 

services  in  the  mission,  it  became  necessary  for 
the  doctor  to  leave  the  emigrants  at  Fort  Hall 
and  proceed  ahead;  but  he  was  able  to  search 
for  the  wagon  road  and  leave  word  on  paper 
where  it  was  best  to  go.  Istikus,  a  Cayuse 
chief,  with  other  Indians,  was  returning  from 
the  buffalo  country,  and  Dr.  Whitman  recom 
mended  him  as  guide.  Says  Hon.  J.  W.  Nes- 
mith:  "  He  was  a  faithful  old  fellow,  perfectly 
familiar  with  all  the  trails  and  topography  of 
the  country  from  Fort  Hall  to  the  Dalles,  and, 
although  not  speaking  a  word  of  English,  and 
no  one  in  our  party  a  word  of  Cayuse,  he  suc 
ceeded  by  pantomime  in  taking  us  over  the 
roughest  wagon  road  I  ever  saw."  The  Indians 
were  really  better  acquainted  with  the  passes 
through  the  Blue  Mountains  than  the  doctor 
was,  and  the  wagons  rolled  through  to  his  sta 
tion 

It  was  now  necessary  for  them  to  be  refresh 
ed  from  the  mission,  and  as  Dr.  Whitman's  mill 
had  been  burned  during  his  absence,  the  flour 
for  the  emigrants  was  transported  a  hundred 
and  ten  miles  by  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding  from  his 
station. 

Dr.  Whitman  also  furnished  them  a  guide  to 
the  Dalles  free  of  cost,  and  they  proceeded  on 
their  way  rejoicing. 

Extravagant  statements  have  been  made  of 


180  History  of  Indian  Missions 

the  confidence  which  the  emigrants  learned  to 
have  in  Dr.  Whitman  before  they  reached  their 
journey's  end.  It  is  reported  that  one  man  said 
that  they  were  so  ready  to  trust  him,  that  if  he 
had  told  them  to  drive  up  a  fir  tree,  he  believed 
they  would  have  made  the  attempt.  Mr.  Jesse 
Applegate  presented  him  with  a  cow,  as  a  tes 
timonial  for  his  services  at  the  crossing  of  the 
north  fork  of  the  Platte.  Says  Mr.  Applegate: 
"  It  is  no  disparagement  to  others  to  say,  that 
to  no  other  individual  are  the  emigrants  of  1843 
so  much  indebted  for  the  successful  conclusion 
of  their  journey  as  to  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman. 
His  constant  advice,  which  we  knew  was  based 
on  a  knowledge  of  the  road  before  us,  was 
'  travel,  travel,  TRAVEL — nothing  else  will  take 
you  to  the  end  of  your  journey.'  " 

This  emigration,  outnumbering  all  of  the  Hud 
son's  Bay  Company's  employees  and  Red  River 
immigrants,  showed  our  Government  that  an 
immigration  could  reach  the  Columbia,  and 
saved  the  country  to  the  United  States.  The 
next  year  negotiations  were  re-opened  between 
the  two  countries,  but  no  offer  was  made,  by  the 
United  States  to  give  Great  Britain  anything 
south  of  the  forty-ninth  parallel. 

Dr.  Whitman  did  more  than  he  promised,  for, 
previous  to  the  time  when  the  emigration  start 
ed,  he  refused  to  be  their  guide;  but  only  prom- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  181 

ised  to  aid  them  as  he  could — not  wishing  to 
take  upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  a  guide; 
but  after  he  overtook  them,  he  was,  in  fact, 
their  guide  through  most  of  the  difficult  places. 
General  John  C.  Fremont,  whom  President 
Tyler  sent  out  to  make  and  protect  the  road 
for  this  emigration,  came,  but  found  the  path 
opened  by  the  wagons,  and  protected  by  the 
vigilance  of  Dr.  Whitman. 

Dr.  Whitman  evidently  considered  the  suc 
cess  of  this  immigration  as  settling  the  destiny 
of  Oregon,  for  he  wrote  to  his  Missionary 
Board,  April  1st,  1847  :  "It  may  easily  be  seen 
what  would  have  become  of  the  American  in 
terests  in  the  country,  had  the  immigration  of 
1843  been  as  disastrous  as  were  the  immigra 
tions  of  1845  and  1846,"  both  of  those  years  his 
route  having  been  abandoned  for  another. 

Says  Judge  William  Strong  :  "  The  arrival 
of  the  emigration  of  1843  may  be  considered 
the  turning  point  in  the  history  of  Oregon.  It 
gave  to  the  American  population  of  the  Terri 
tory  control  of  its  civil  affairs  ;  attracted  the 
attention  and  excited  the  interest  of  the  citi 
zens  and  public  authorities  of  the  United  States 
to  this  then  almost  unknown  land,  and  thus 
contributed  materially  to  the  determination  of 
the  boundary  question.  It  made  Oregon  of  too 
great  importance  to  permit  diplomacy  to  trifle 


1 82  History  of  Indian  Missions 

it  away.  It  brought  to  the  valley  a  large  band 
of  improved  horses  and  cattle.  It  afforded  the 
settlers  means  of  making  themselves  at  home 
in  the  country,  and  filled  their  hearts  with 
hopes  at  being  again  surrounded  by  American 
citizens." 

During  subsequent  years  the  hands  and 
heart  of  Dr.  Whitman  were  also  full  to  aid  the 
poor  emigrant.  A  generosity  fully  equal  to 
the  golden  rule  was  usually  practiced,  so  that 
sometimes  by  the  beginning  of  winter  he  found 
himself  almost  without  supplies,  and  was 
obliged  to  send  to  the  station  among  the  Nez 
Perces,  a  hundred  and  ten  miles  distant,  and 
have  flour  for  his  station  packed  to  it.  Those 
too  poor  to  proceed  further  sometimes  win 
tered  with  him,  so  that  at  the  time  of  his  massa 
cre  there  were  seventy  persons  at  his  station, 
fifty-three  of  whom  were  immigrants,  and 
seven  more  immigrant  children,  whose  parents 
died  on  the  journey  in  1844,  and  whom  he  had 
adopted  into  his  family.  On  account  of  this 
kindness  the  citizens  of  the  Willamette  were 
probably  more  ready  to  volunteer,  in  order  to 
avenge  his  death,  than  they  would  have  done 
for  that  of  almost  any  other  person  on  the  Pa 
cific  coast. 

When,  previous  to  his  journey  East  in  1842, 
he  was  urged  by  his  friends  to  consider  the 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  183 

perils  of  the  contemplated  journey,  he  said  : 
"  My  life  is  of  but  little  moment  if  I  can  but 
save  this  country  for  the  American  people." 
Immediately  after  his  return  to  this  coast  he 
said  to  Rev.  C.  Eells  that  he  very  much  wished 
that  he  could  be  in  Washington  during  the 
winter  of  1843-4,  as  he  felt  that  he  could  then 
accomplish  far  more  in  preventing  the  sale  of 
Oregon  than  he  had  already  done. 

While  these  events  were  transpiring,  others 
looking  to  the  same  end  were  occurring  in  the 
Willamette  valley  ;  for  few,  if  any,  of  the  set 
tlers  there  realized  the  objects  Dr.  Whitman 
had  in  going  east,  if  they  even  knew  of  the 
journey. 

The  shape  that  these  events  took  was  the 
organizing  of  a  provisional  government.  Not 
withstanding  the  fact  that  the  English  Govern 
ment  was  disposed  to  grant  to  the  United 
States  the  country  south  of  the  Columbia,  and 
the  officers  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  be 
lieving  that  this  river  would  be  the  line,  if 
Great  Britain  should  be  obliged  to  make  a  di 
vision,  had  built  their  headquarters  at  Van 
couver,  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  river,  yet 
there  were  some  among  them  who  were  deter 
mined,  if  possible,  to  obtain  possession  of  the 
country  south  of  that  river.  This  will  be  seen 
by  remembering  that  they  had  taken  possession 


184  History  of  Indian  Missions 

of  the  land  at  the  Willamette  Falls  (now  Ore 
gon  City)  ;  that  they  had  a  settlement  at 
French  Prairie,  above  Oregon  City,  and  that 
their  Governor-General,  Sir  George  Simpson, 
had  made  a  statement  defying  the  American 
Government  to  establish  the  Atlantic  tariff  in 
Pacific  ports.  Three  points  the  Company  in 
sisted  upon,  as  far  as  they  were  able  under  the 
treaty,  with  the  Methodist  missionaries,  viz.: 
that  they  should  not  attempt  to  trade  with  the 
Indians;  that  they  should  confine  themselves  to 
missionary  and  agricultural  pursuits  ;  and  that 
they  should  remain  south  of  the  Columbia 
River.  Not  that  the  servants  of  the  Company 
confined  themselves  to  the  country  north  of 
that  river,  for  in  1831  they  had  begun  to  settle 
in  the  Willamette  valley. 

The  forming  of  the  provisional  government 
in  1843  by  the  people  of  Oregon,  during  the 
summer  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  great  im 
migration  which  was  led  by  Dr.  Whitman — 
three  years  before  the  final  treaty  was  made 
which  settled  the  boundary  line,  and  six  years 
before  the  first  Governor  appointed  by  the 
United  States  authorities  arrived — was  very  ef 
fective  in  saving  the  country  south  of  the  Co 
lumbia. 

Many  of  the  early  trappers  and  settlers  who 
had  never  been  connected  with  the  Methodist 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  185 

mission,  worked  nobly  for  this  object,  in  con 
nection  with  the  missionaries;  yet  that  mission 
was  the  centre  around  which  all  these  efforts  at 
first  crystallized,  and  without  which  little,  if  any 
thing,  would  probably  have  been  accomplished 
at  that  early  day. 

It  was  a  fact,  says  Mrs.  Victor  in  her  River  of 
the  West,  that  a  mission  had  been  established 
in  the  Willamette  with  all  the  means  and  ap 
pliances  of  a  settlement,  independent  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  that  induced  the 
American  mountain  men  to  remain  and  settle 
upon  farms.  They  looked  to  the  mission  to  be 
come  to  them  what  Vancouver  was  to  the  Ca 
nadians — a  supply  station,  and  although  they 
were  somewhat  disappointed,  perhaps,  in  their 
expectations,  yet  they  did  not  find  it  out  until 
they  were  settled. 

Previous  to  1840  the  number  of  persons  in 
that  region  was  so  small  that  nothing  seemed 
to  be  required,  yet  as  early  as  1837  Mr.  Lee 
had  been  successful  in  one  way,  in  freeing  both 
the  mission  and  the  other  settlers  from  the  con 
trol  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company — it  was  from 
the  cattle  monopoly.  Previous  to  1837  the 
company  owned  all  the  cattle  in  that  portion 
of  the  country,  and  they  would  sell  to  no  one 
outside  of  the  company.  They  would  only  loan 
their  cows  to  the  settlers  in  the  spring  to  be 


1 86  History  of  Indian  Missions 

milked,  and  to  be  returned  in  the  fall  with  the 
increase.  Mr.  Lee  determined,  if  possible,  to 
break  up  this  monopoly,  by  sending  to  Cali 
fornia  for  cattle.  Captain  Slocum,  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  was  in  the  Columbia  River 
at  that  time,  and  offered  to  take  any  persons, 
free,  to  California,  who  might  wish  to  go  for 
cattle.  Accordingly  a  meeting  was  called  at 
the  mission  house  to  form  a  cattle  company; 
various  amounts  were  subscribed,  and  two  men 
were  sent  for  the  cattle.  They  returned  in  1837, 
losing  some  of  the  cattle  on  the  way  by  the  In 
dians,  who  attempted  to  capture  all  of  them, 
but  they  were  beaten  back,  and  600  head  were 
driven  into  the  Willamette  valley,  and  distrib 
uted  to  various  individuals,  according  to 
the  amount  which  each  one  had  subscribed. 
"This  successful  enterprise,"  says  Rev.  G.  Hines, 
"which  laid  the  foundation  for  a  rapid  accumu 
lation  of  wealth  to  the  settlers,  was  mainly  due 
to  the  efforts  of  Rev.  J.  Lee." 

In  1840  a  petition,  signed  by  Rev.  D.  Leslie, 
of  the  mission,  and  others,  was  sent  to  Con 
gress,  which  stated  the  weak  condition  of  the 
American  settlers,  and  their  dangers,  the  re 
sources  of  the  country,  and  the  efforts  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  to  keep  possession; 
and  praying  that  a  territorial  government 
might  be  extended  over  them. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  187 

At  that  time  there  were  of  all  sexes  and  ages 
in  the  country,  137  Americans,  91  of  whom 
were  connected  with  Indian  missions. 

The  same  year,  owing  to  the  death  of  Ewing 
Young,  one  of  the  settlers,  who  left  a  large  un 
settled  estate  in  the  country  and  without  heirs, 
some  kind  of  laws  became  necessary.  Accord 
ingly,  in  February,  1841,  a  meeting  was  called  for 
the  purpose  of  forming  a  government  for  Ore 
gon.  This,  as  far  as  known,  was  the  first  pub 
lic  meeting  held  to  take  the  subject  into  con 
sideration.  It  was  held  at  the  house  of  the 
Methodist  mission.  Rev.  J.  Lee  was  chairman, 
and  G.  Hines  secretary,  both  of  whom  were  mis 
sionaries.  Some  officers  were  chosen,  as  a  Su 
preme  Judge,  Clerk  of  Courts,  Recorder,  Sheriff 
and  Constables;  Dr.  J.  L.  Babcock,  of  the  mis 
sion,  being  chosen  to  fill  the  first  named  office. 
A  committee  of  nine,  of  whom  three  were  mem 
bers  of  the  mission,  was  appointed  to  draft  a 
constitution  and  code  of  laws;  after  which  the 
meeting  adjourned  until  June  following.  They 
met  at  that  time,  but  having  done  nothing,  they 
were  instructed  to  meet  again  in  August,  and 
in  the  meantime  to  consult  with  Commodore 
Wilkes,  of  the  United  States  exploring  squad 
ron,  who  had  by  that  time  arrived.  Many  set 
tlers  were,  however,  opposed  to  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  government — Commodore  Wilkes 


1 88  History  of  Indian  Missions 

thought  it  unwise.  In  the  meantime  the  estate 
was  settled,  and  the  subject  allowed  to  slumber. 

The  Commodore's  reasons  for  his  advice 
were  that  he,  as  well  as  many  others,  knew 
that  the  British  interests  in  the  country  felt 
threatened  by  his  presence,  and  he  feared  that 
if  it  was  followed  by  an  organization,  action 
might  be  precipitated  for  which  our  govern 
ment  was  not  prepared,  and  which  might  pro 
voke  an  enmity  against  the  settlers,  for  which 
they  in  their  weak  condition  were  not  ready. 

In  1842  the  subject  was  revived,  but  about 
that  time  Dr.  E.  White — who  first  came  to  the 
country  in  connection  with  the  Methodist  mis 
sion,  as  physician,  in  1837,  and  remained  until 
1841,  when  he  resigned  and  returned  east — ar 
rived  with  a  commission  as  United  States  Sub- 
Indian  Agent.  He  was  the  first  United  States 
officer  for  the  Pacific  coast.  In  1842  he  con 
ducted  the  second  party  of  emigrants,  number 
ing  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  persons, 
across  the  plains,  for  the  purpose  of  settling 
in  Oregon.  Says  Hon.  M.  Crawford  of  the 
emigration  of  that  year:  "  It  was  as  a  mission 
ary  that  Dr.  White  gained  his  knowledge  of 
Oregon,  which  induced  him  to  obtain  from  our 
Government  a  kind  of  roving  commission  as 
sub-agent  of  Indians  west  of  the  Rocky  Mount 
ains.  His  presence  gave  us  confidence,  se- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  189 

cured  to  us  consideration  from  the  traders,  and 
above  all  enabled  us  to  have  a  guide  and  inter 
preter  from  Fort  Laramie  to  Fort  Hall,  without 
whom  we  could  not  have  accomplished  the 
journey."  That  emigration,  it  will  be  remem 
bered,  brought  to  Dr.  Whitman  the  news  that 
the  United  States  was  about  to  give  up  much 
of  Oregon.  Gen.  Lovejoy,  a  member  of  it,  was 
Dr.  Whitman's  companion  on  his  return  that 
winter,  and  its  success,  although  it  brought  no 
wagons  this  side  of  Fort  Hall,  had  great  influ 
ence  in  encouraging  Dr.  Whitman  in  his  efforts 
in  1843. 

The  fact  of  the  appointment  of  Dr.  White  led 
some  to  hope  that  Government  was  about  to 
protect  her  citizens  in  Oregon,  while  some  also 
thought  that  by  virtue  of  his  office,  he  might 
act  somewhat  in  the  capacity  of  Governor  ; 
hence  nothing  more  was  done  by  the  citizens 
that  year  in  regard  to  a  government. 

By  the  next  year,  however,  it  was  found  that 
while  he  had  authority  over  Indians,  he  had 
none  over  the  whites;  and  as  Indian  difficulties 
seemed  to  thicken  and  threaten  the  settlement, 
another  meeting  was  called,  February  2d,  1843, 
at  the  Oregon  Institute  of  the  Methodist  Epis 
copal  Church.  Dr.  J.  L.  Babcock  was  chair 
man,  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Willson  secretary  of  this 
meeting,  both  of  whom  were  missionaries.  The 


190  History  of  Indian  Missions 

meeting  was  called  to  take  into  consideration 
means  for  protecting  their  cattle  and  swine 
from  the  surrounding  wolves,  bears  and  pan 
thers;  but  it  served  to  prepare  the  way  for  an 
other,  which  was  held  on  March  4th,  when 
suitable  bounties  were  offered  for  the  killing  of 
these  animals,  and  at  its  close  a  committee  of 
twelve  was  appointed,  to  consider  the  propriety 
of  taking  measures  for  securing  the  civil  and  mil 
itary  protection  of  the  colony.  This  was  unex 
pected  to  some,  while  others  were  prepared  for 
it.  Hon.  W.  H.  Gray,  who  had  just  left  the  mis 
sion  of  the  American  Board,  was  a  leading 
spirit  throughout  the  whole  affair.  Just  as  they 
were  ready  to  adjourn,  he  said:  "  No  one  would 
question  for  a  moment  this  was  right.  This 
was  just  and  natural  protection  for  our  property, 
in  animals  liable  to  be  destroyed  by  wolves, 
bears  and  panthers.  How  is  it,  fellow  citizens, 
with  you  and  me,  and  our  wives  and  children  ? 
Have  we  any  organization  on  which  we  can 
rely  for  mutual  protection  ?  Is  there  any  power 
or  influence  in  the  country  sufficient  to  protect 
us  and  all  that  we  hold  dear,  from  the  worse 
than  wild  beasts  that  threaten  and  occasion 
ally  destroy  our  cattle  ? 

Common  sense,  prudence,  and  justice  to  our 
selves,  demand  that  we  act  consistently  with  the 
principles  that  we  have  commenced.  We  have 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  191 

mutually  and  unitedly  agreed  to  defend  and 
protect  our  cattle  and  domestic  animals ;" 
whereupon  he  moved  that  the  above-mentioned 
committee  be  appointed,  and  this  was  done. 
The  committee  reported  May  3d,  1843,  in  favor 
of  a  Provisional  Government.  In  this  also  Mr. 
Gray  was  the  leader.  His  fertility  of  resources 
were  relied  upon  to  combat  the  open  hostility 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  Catholics  ; 
and  to  win  over,  if  possible,  to  the  support  of 
the  contemplated  measures,  the  Methodist 
missionaries,  who  at  that  time  were  hardly 
ready  to  sympathize  with  what  they  called  ex 
treme  views. 

There  were  three  positions  then  taken  in  re 
gard  to  this  subject,  which  were  favored  by  as 
many  different  parties.  Some  favored  no  change ; 
some  an  independent  government,  and  some  a 
temporary  government,  to  last  until  the  United 
States  should  settle  the  matter  by  treaty,  or 
ganize  a  regular  territorial  government,  and 
appoint  the  proper  officers.  A  majority  of  the 
committee  favored  the  last  position,  and  so  re 
ported;  but  when  the  final  vote  was  taken  at 
this  public  meeting,  after  much  confusion,  their 
report  was  adopted  by  only  two  majority,  the 
vote  standing  fifty-two  to  fifty,  so  evenly  were 
the  parties  divided.  While  many  others  helped 
to  gain  this  result,  and  nothing  should  be  said 


192  History  of  Indian  Missions 

to  detract  from  the  honor  due  to  them,  yet  it  is 
plain  that  it  would  not  have  been  carried  at 
this  time  had  it  not  been  for  the  presence  and 
influence  of  persons  connected  with  the  mis 
sion.  After  the  vote,  the  opposing  Canadians 
withdrew,  when  some  officers  were  elected, 
among  them  W.  H.  Willson,  of  the  Methodist 
mission,  as  first  Treasurer  of  Oregon.  A  legis 
lative  committee  of  nine  was  appointed.  They 
met  at  Oregon  City,  May  16,  in  a  building 
gratuitously  furnished  by  the  mission,  three 
members  of  the  mission  voluntarily  engaging 
to  provide,  at  their  own  expense,  for  the  board 
ing  of  this  committee. 

In  July  following,  an  executive  committee  of 
three  was  elected  instead  of  one  Governor, 
whose  duties  were  to  be  much  the  same  as 
those  of  that  officer.  Mr.  A.  Beers,  of  the 
Methodist  mission,  was  chosen  as  one  of  the 
three.  These  were  elected  annually  during  the 
two  following  years,  when  the  plan  was  changed, 
and  a  Governor  was  elected  in  1845 — Mr  George 
Abernethy,  a  gentleman  who  came  to  the 
country  as  steward  of  the  Methodist  mission. 
He  was  chosen  for  two  years,  and  re-elected  in 
1847,  serving  until  1849,  when  he  was  super 
seded  by  General  Joseph  Lane,  the  first  Gov 
ernor  appointed  by  United  States  authority. 

The  boundary  question  was  settled  in  1846, 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  193 

but  no  immediate  action  in  behalf  of  Oregon 
was  taken  by  Congress.  In  the  spring  of  1847, 
Dr.  Whitman  went  to  Oregon  City,  and  in  an 
interview  with  Judge  J.  Q.  Thornton,  spoke 
freely  of  the  perils  of  his  mission  station,  and 
said  that  he  believed  that  nothing  short  of  the 
speedy  establishment  of  a  Territorial  Govern 
ment  to  supersede  the  Provisional  Government 
would  save  himself  and  mission  from  murder 
by  the  savages.  He  urged  Judge  Thornton  to 
yield  to  solicitations  he  had  received  to  go  at 
once  to  Washington  on  behalf  of  the  people 
and  Provisional  Government.  This  interview 
decided  him,  and  when  Dr.  Whitman  was  about 
to  return  to  his  mission,  Judge  Thornton  prom 
ised  that  he  would  do  as  desired  if  Gov.  Ab- 
ernethy  would  furnish  the  necessary  letter  to 
the  President.  In  October  he  went  to  the 
Governor,  resigned  his  office  as  Supreme  Judge, 
received  the  necessary  letter,  and  went  by 
water,  arriving  in  Washington  in  May,  1848. 
Soon  after  his  departure,  however,  in  Novem 
ber,  Dr.  Whitman  and  others  were  killed,  and 
because  of  this  massacre,  Colonel  Joseph  Meek 
was  quickly  hurried  off  also  to  Washington 
across  the  continent.  He  arrived  only  a  week 
or  two  after  Judge  Thornton,  to  lay  before 
Congress  the  necessity  of  the  immediate  pro 
tection  of  the  Territory.  The  two  worked  to- 


1 94  History  of  Indian  Missions 

gether,  whereupon  action,  which  had  slowly 
dragged  along  on  account  of  the  slavery  ques 
tion,  was  hastened,  and  an  act  of  Congress, 
approved  August  I4th,  1848,  organized  a  Ter 
ritorial  Government  for  Oregon. 

True,  during  the  later  years  the  influence  of 
the  Methodist  missionaries  decreased,  because 
of  the  number  of  emigrants  who  arrived,  yet  in 
the  earlier  days  of  the  plans  for  organization, 
they  helped  very  greatly.  It  was  their  settle 
ment  which  drew  into  the  Willamette  valley 
the  trappers  and  travelers  as  settlers :  Dr. 
White,  a  returned  missionary,  brought  to  the 
country  in  1842  an  immigration  of  137  persons, 
with  wagons,  to  Fort  Hall;  and  Dr.  Whitman, 
another  missionary,  brought  the  first  immigrant 
wagons  through,  and  an  immigration  which  set 
tled  the  question  of  possession  by  settlement; 
the  Methodist  mission  aided  materially  in  form 
ing  the  Provisional  Government;  Dr.  White  was 
the  first  United  States  officer  for  the  country, 
and  Mr.  Abernethy,  another  missionary,  was 
the  first  Governor. 

Others  besides  missionaries  and  missionary 
societies  have  been  ready  to  acknowledge  the 
benefits  of  mission  work  to  the  country. 

Honorable  Elwood  Evans,  for  a  time  acting 
Governor  of  Washington,  does  not  agree  wholly 
with  the  writer  in  regard  to  all  that  Dr.  Whit- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  195 

man  accomplished,  yet  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  H. 
H.  Spalding  he  says:  "The  American  mission 
aries  were  the  apostles  paving  the  way  for 
American  occupancy ;  the  avant  couriers  of 
Oregon  Americanization.  Nor  need  you  fear 
that  the  missionary  heroines,  who  proved  that 
women  could  go  to  Oregon  (overland)  and  live 
and  die  there,  will  ever  be  forgotten."  In  a 
letter  to  the  writer  he  also  adds,  with  reference 
to  these  same  women,  that  "  was  the  demon 
stration  that  Oregon  could  be  reached  over 
land  from  the  Western  States.  That  settled 
the  Oregon  controversy  in  favor  of  the  United 
States  earlier  and  more  surely  than  any  other 
circumstance."  And  again,  "  We  zealously 
unite  in  ascribing  to  that  visit  [of  Dr.  Whit 
man]  the  greatest  results  in  the  future  of  Ore 
gon — the  grandest  service  to  that  large  train — 
the  importance  that  flowed  from  his  successful 
leading  of  that  train  through  to  the  Columbia, 
with  their  wagons.  Those  results,  those  con 
clusions,  are  glorious  to  Dr.  Whitman's  mem 
ory." 

Says  Judge  A.  E.  Wait,  then  editor  of  the 
Oregon  Spectator,  in  an  issue  of  that  paper 
dated  July  13,  1848:  "  We  have  seen  a  dispo 
sition  to  undervalue  the  objects  and  efforts  of  the 
missionaries.  This  is  wrong,  and  a  moment's 
reflection  will  satisfy  all  of  the  injustice  of  im- 


196  History  of  Indian  Missions 

puting  selfish  motives  to  the  missionaries.  The 
importance  of  the  country  as  described  by  them 
brought  the  citizens  of  Oregon  here.  We  can 
readily  see  what  brought  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  here.  But  what  brought  the  mis 
sionaries,  who,  with  their  lives  in  their  hands, 
led  the  way,  with  their  wives,  into  the  coun 
try,  when  it  was  almost  unknown,  and  en 
tirely  unappreciated.  It  would  appear  that 
there  is  but  one  answer.  It  was  the  high  and 
holy  estimation  which  they  placed  upon  the 
importance  of  souls,  and  the  command  of  their 
Great  Master  in  Heaven." 

While  Mrs.  Victor,  in  her  River  of  the  West, 
does  not  always  favor  the  Methodist  mission, 
yet  she  says  of  it;  "  Here  was  a  colony,  an 
American  colony,  stolen  in  under  the  very 
nose  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  .  .  . 
They  builded  better  than  they  knew.  They 
furnished  the  means  by  which  an  American 
colony  established  itself  on  Oregon  soil;  and 
being  once  established,  it  could  not  be  dis 
lodged.  It  was  the  logical  result  of  unforeseen 
circumstances.  A  few  religious  enthusiasts 
had  undertaken  what  they  could  not  perform — > 
the  christianizing  of  a  low  order  of  savages. 
They  found  themselves  in  a  distant  and  beauti 
ful  country,  where  it  was  easier  to  remain  than 
to  return.  Homes  were  growing  up  around 


On  ike  Pacific  Coast.  197 

them;  children  were  born;  it  was  a  mild  and 
salubrious  climate;  why  should  they  desire  to 
quit  it  ? " 

About  1869  hundreds  of  persons  in  Oregon 
and  Washington  Territory,  signed  papers  in 
which  they  stated  that  they  believed  that  Dr. 
Whitman  saved  at  least  a  portion  of  Oregon  as 
it  was  in  1842  to  the  United  States.  Among 
these  were,  G.  F.  Whitworth,  then  Chief  Clerk 
of  the  Indian  Department  of  Washington  Ter 
ritory;  C.  H.  Hale,  Superintendent  of  Indian 
Affairs,  W.  T.;  C.  A.  Huntington,  Clerk  in  the 
Indian  Department,  W.  T.;  S.  D.  Howe,  As 
sessor  of  Internal  Revenue,  W.  T.;  S.  Garfielde, 
Surveyor-General,  and  afterwards  Delegate  to 
Congress;  T.  W.  Reed,  Speaker  of  the  Legislat 
ive  Assembly,  W.  T.;  C.  C.  Hewitt,  Chief  Just 
ice  of  the  Territory;  E.  S.  Smith,  Secretary  of 
the  Territory;  and  L.  F.  Grover,  Ex-Congress 
man,  and  afterwards  Governor  and  United 
States  Senator  from  Oregon.  About  the  same 
time  resolutions  to  the  same  effect  were  also 
passed  by  the  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  the  Presbyteries  of  the  Pres 
byterian  and  United  Presbyterian  Churches, 
and  the  General  Associations  of  the  Congrega 
tional,  Baptist  and  Christian  Churches  of  Ore 
gon  and  Washington  Territory. 

On  the  other  hand,  Governor  Abernethy  has 


198  History  of  Indian  Missions 

testified  that  the  Catholic  priests  and  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  opposed  the  settlement  of  the 
country  and  the  formation  of  the  provisional 
government. 

The  remark  has  been  made  that  there  is  no 
record  at  Washington  of  any  proceedings  which  \ 
show  that  Mr.  Webster  was  about  to  trade  Ore 
gon  for  the  cod-fishery  of  Newfoundland,  and 
that  his  friends  would  not  allow  such  state 
ments  to  be  made.  But  it  is  not  claimed  by 
Dr.  Whitman's  friends  that  there  was  any  offi 
cial  action  at  that  time;  but  there  is  abundant 
evidence  to  show  that  Governor  Simpson  was 
working  in  an  unofficial  way  for  the  accomplish 
ment  of  this  object,  and  that  it  was  likely  to 
prove  effective,  so  that  when  it  should  come  up 
officially  between  the  two  countries,  Secretary 
Webster  would  be  so  committed  to  this  line  of 
action  that  he  could  not  retract;  and  thus  Dr. 
Whitman's  journey  really  saved  much  of  Ore 
gon  to  the  United  States. 

In  accordance  with  this,  the  New  York  Inde 
pendent,  of  January,  1870,  said:  "  A  personal 
friend  of  Mr.  Webster's,  a  legal  gentleman, 
and  with  whom  he  conversed  on  the  subject 
several  times,  remarked  to  the  writer  of  this 
article:  'It  is  safe  to  assert  that  our  country 
owes  it  to  Dr.  Whitman  and  his  associate  mis 
sionaries,  that  all  of  the  territory  west  of  the 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  199 

Rocky  Mountains  and  south  as  far  as  the  Co 
lumbia  River,  is  not  now  owned  by  England 
and  held  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.' " 

English  testimony  is  just  as  explicit.  Mr. 
Dunn  says  especially  of  the  Methodist  mission: 
"The  Americans,  who  had  already  made  many 
attempts  to  effect  a  lodgment  in  the  country, 
on  every  occasion  failed,  either  from  their  want 
of  skill,  or  of  capital,  or  integrity  in  their  deal 
ings  with  the  natives,  ....  having  now  seen 
that  a  fair  opportunity  of  securing  a  possession 
was  opened  to  them  under  the  Company's 
shelter,  bethought  them  of  dispatching  mis 
sionaries,"  ostensibly  to  teach  the  Indians,  but 
they,  according  to  their  "  true  purpose,  became 
resident  farmers,  teaching,  it  is  true,  the  natives 
the  great  elements  of  Christianity  and  forms  of 
prayer,  but  using  their  gratuitous  labor  for  the 
cultivation  of  their  fields."  They,  he  also  says, 
"proclaimed  abroad  their  success,  and  a  few  ad 
venturers  came,  some  as  farmers,  others  in  the 
guise  of  missionaries." 

Again,  he  adds:  "  The  American  missiona 
ries  are  used  by  the  American  government,  and 
fairly  used  by  the  American  writers,  as  political 
instruments  in  exercising  their  influence  with 
the  natives  to  attach  them  to  republican  insti 
tutions,  and  to  make  them  the  passive  recipi 
ents  of  all  sorts  of  anti-British  antipathies;  and 


2OO  History  of  Indian  Missions 

thus  the  Americans  hope  to  recover  the  posi 
tion  in  the  country  which  they  lost  by  their 
want  of  integrity  or  energy  as  traders.  This  is 
well  worth  the  consideration  of  the  British 
government  and  the  British  missionary  socie 
ties." 

A  writer  in  the  British  Colonial  Magazine 
also  says:  "By  a  strange  and  unpardonable 
oversight  of  the  local  officers,  missionaries 
from  the  United  States  were  allowed  to  take 
religious  charge  of  the  population,  and  these 
artful  men  lost  no  time  In  introducing  such  a 
number  of  their  countrymen  as  reduced  the  in 
fluence  of  the  British  settlers  to  complete  in 
significance." 

And  says  Rev.  G.  H.  Atkinson,  D.D.,  in  the 
Missionary  Herald,  of  March,  1869:  "  Having 
then  become  involved  in  the  Mexican  war,  Gen 
eral  Fremont  was  sent  in  1847  to  co-operate 
with  our  Commodore,  and  seize  California, 
which  was  done.  In  the  settlement  with  Mex 
ico,  our  Government  purchased  the  conquered 
province  of  California.  The  connection  of 
events  is  such  as  to  show  that  our  securing  the 
actual  possession  of  Oregon  by  emigrants  and 
a  provisional  government  led  to  the  general 
survey  and  the  final  conquest  and  purchase  of 
California,  though  sectional  and  sporadic  efforts 
had  previously  been  made  to  secure  this  prov- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  201 

ince.  The  securing  of  Oregon  preceded  that 
of  California  somewhat  as  a  cause  precedes  an 
effect;  the  one  hinges  upon  the  other,  after 
which  the  golden  grains  there  concealed  were 
uncovered,  so  that  fifty  millions  year  after  year 
were  added  to  the  world's  currency,  and  means 
provided  to  carry  on  the  national  contest  for 
life  from  1861  to  1865." 

4  What  great  events  on  seeming  trifles  turn  ! 
'  To-day  the  fires  that  on  our  hearthstones  burn 
'  Had  not  been  lighted;  and  our  banners  bright, 
'  Bright  as  the  day,  and  beautiful  as  night, 

*  Would  not  to-day  above  yon  proud  pile  float; 
'  Nor  would  the  cannon's  roar  or  bugle's  note 

'  Proclaim  this  land  our  own,  upon  the  day 

'  To  freedom  consecrate,  if  far  away, 

'  And  long  ago,  those  red  men  had  not  sought 

*  In  simple  faith  to  know  what  God  had  wrought.' 


*  A.  T.  Hawley. 


2O2  History  of  Indian  Missions 


CHAPTER  V. 

LITERATURE,    SCIENCE,    EDUCATION,    MORALS 
AND  RELIGION. 

MISSIONS  brought  the  first  printing  press  to 
the  north-west  coast  of  the  United  States; 
printed  the  first  book,  and  established  the  first 
collegiate  institution  in  the  same  region;  and 
have  contributed  largely  to  the  literature, 
science,  morals  and  religion  of  the  country. 

Printing. — In  1839  the  Oregon  mission  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions  received  from  the  native  mission 
church  at  Honolulu,  Sandwich  Islands,  under 
the  same  Board,  a  small  printing  press,  with 
the  requisite  types,  furniture  and  paper,  which, 
with  some  other  articles  donated  at  the  same 
time,  were  valued  at  four  hundred  and  fifty  dol 
lars.  The  health  of  the  wife  of  one  of  the  print 
ers  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Mr.  E.  O.  Hall,  ne 
cessitating  a  temporary  change,  he  came  with 
it  to  begin  the  work,  and  to  give  the  necessary 
instruction  to  others.  The  press  was  immedi- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  203 

ately  taken  to  Lapwai,  where  it  was  set  up,  and 
a  small  elementary  book  of  twenty  pages  was 
printed,  the  first  printing  known  to  have  been 
done  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  work 
was  continued  on  a  small  scale  for  years.  The 
press  was  afterwards  taken  to  the  Tualatin 
Plains,  where  a  paper,  The  Oregon  American 
and  Evangelical  Unionist,  was  published  on  it 
by  Rev.  J.  S.  Griffin,  the  second  newspaper  in 
Oregon.  The  press  is  now  at  Salem,  in  the 
historical  rooms  of  Oregon. 

Literature. — The  missionaries  have  contrib 
uted  largely  to  the  history  and  description  of 
the  country. 

Rev.  S.  Parker,  of  the  American  Board,  pub 
lished  in  1838  a  duodecimo  volume  of  400 
pages,  which  reached  a  fourth  edition  in  1844. 
.This  is  a  journal  of  his  tour  in  1835-6-7  across 
the  Rocky  Mountains  and  through  Oregon, 
and  contains  a  description  of  the  geography, 
geology,  climate  and  productions  of  the  coun 
try,  and  the  number,  manners  and  customs  of 
the  natives,  and  was  illustrated  by  a  new  map 
of  the  country.  This  work,  at  the  time  of  its 
publication,  was  highly  recommended  by  Rev. 
H.  Humphrey,  D.D.,  President  of  Amherst  Col 
lege  ;  E.  Hitchcock,  D.D.,  then  Professor  in 
the  same  College,  and  afterwards  its  President; 
Rev.  J.  Richards,  D.D.,  Professor  in  Auburn 


204  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Theological  Seminary ;  Prof.  B.  Silliman,  of 
Yale  College  ;  Noah  Webster,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
author  of  Webster's  Dictionary,  and  Chancellor 
Kent. 

Rev.  Gustavus  Hines  published  in  1851  a 
duodecimo  volume  of  437  pages,  entitled  "  An 
Exploring  Expedition  to  Oregon — its  history, 
condition  and  prospects — .containing  a  descrip 
tion  of  the  country,  its  geography,  climate  and 
productions,  with  personal  adventures  among 
the  Indians  during  a  residence  of  the  author." 

In  1868  the  same  author  published  another 
duodecimo  volume  of  326  pages,  entitled  "  Ore 
gon  and  its  Institutions,  comprising  a  full  his 
tory  of  the  Willamette  University,"  and  in  it  he 
devotes  more  than  a  hundred  pages  to  a  de 
scription  of  the  country. 

In  1844  Rev.  D.  Lee  and  F.  H.  Frost  pub 
lished  another  duodecimo  volume,  with  the 
title  of  "  Ten  Years  in  Oregon." 

Doctor  Elijah  White's  "  Ten  Years  in  Ore 
gon,"  a  duodecimo  volume  of  430  pages,  was 
published  in  1850.  It  describes  the  travels 
and  adventures  of  Doctor  E.  White  and  lady, 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  contains 
also  a  brief  history  of  the  missions  and  settle 
ments  of  the  country,  the  origin  of  the  Provi 
sional  Government,  number  and  customs  of  the 
Indians,  incidents  witnessed  while  traveling 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  205 

and  residing  in  the  Territory,  and  a  description 
of  the  soil,  the  productions  and  climate. 

In  1854  Carlton  and  Phillips,  of  the  Sunday- 
school  Union  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  published  a  duodecimo  volume  of  229 
pages,  entitled  "  Sketches  of  , Mission  Life 
among  the  Indians  of  Oregon,"  and  the  mate 
rial  for  the  work  was  furnished  by  H.  P.  Brewer, 
a  lay  missionary  under  the  M.  E.  Missionary 
Board  in  Oregon  for  nine  years. 

Hon.  W.  H.  Gray,  of  the  American  Board, 
published  in  1870  an  octavo  volume  of  624 
pages,  which  gives  a  history  of  Oregon  from 
1792  to  1849. 

While  others  have  also  written  some  volumes 
in  regard  to  the  coast,  yet  they  are  largely  in 
debted  to  the  early  missionaries  for  a  portion 
of  their  history — both  Judge  J.  Q.  Thornton 
and  Mrs.  F.  F.  Victor  having  drawn  valuable 
information  from  these  sources. 

Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding  published,  about  1845, 
a  small  hymn-book  in  the  Nez  Perces  lan 
guage,  32mo;  and  later,  a  translation  of  the 
Gospel  of  Matthew,  which  was  afterwards  re 
vised,  and  in  1871  published  by  the  American 
Bible  Society  as  a  I2mo  volume  of  130  pages. 

James  Reuben,  a  Nez  Perce  Indian,  with  the 
assistance  of  Rev.  Mr.  Ainslee,  has  translated 
the  Gospel  of  John  into  that  language. 


2o6  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Besides  these  books,  a  number  of  pamphlets 
have  been  published. 

Between  1839  and  1847  there  were  printed  at 
the  mission  press  at  Lapwai  an  elementary 
school  book  of  20  pages  in  Nez  Perces;  another 
book  of  52  pages,  of  which  800  copies  were  pub 
lished,  in  the  same  language;  another  small 
one,  and  some  simple  laws  (likewise  in  the  Nez 
Perces  language),  which  were  adopted  through 
the  influence'  of  Dr.  E.  White,  sub-Indian 
Agent;  and  a  small  book  or  pamphlet  of  16 
pages  in  the  Spokane  or  Flathead  language, 
prepared  by  Revs.  E.  Walker  and  C.  Eells. 

Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding  compiled  a  defense  of 
Dr.  Whitman  and  the  early  missionaries,  in  an 
octavo  pamphlet  of  81  pages,  which  was  pub 
lished  about  1870  at  Washington,  by  a  vote  of 
Congress.  This  was  prepared  in  answer  to  an 
attack  on  those  missionaries  by  Rev.  J.  B.  A. 
Brouillet,  Bishop  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
which  had  been  previously  published  by  author 
ity  of  Congress,  in  Executive  Document  num 
ber  38. 

Hon.  W.  H.  Gray  delivered  an  address  before 
the  Pioneer  and  Historical  Society  of  Oregon, 
on  the  early  history  of  the  country,  in  1877, 
which  was  published  by  that  Society  in  a 
pamphlet  of  12  pages;  and  in  1879  he  published 
an  octavo  pamphlet  of  32  pages  on  the  Moral 
and  Religious  Aspect  of  the  Indian  Question. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  207 

In  1875  Rev.  M.  Eells  prepared  an  account 
of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Twana  In 
dians  of  Washington  Territory,  which  was  pub 
lished  in  1877  in  Major  F.  V.  Hayden's  Geolog 
ical  and  Geographical  Survey  of  the  Territo 
ries — an  octavo  pamphlet  of  58  pages;  and  in 
1878  he  also  published  a  i6mo  pamphlet  of  16 
pages,  containing  mainly  hymns  in  the  Chinook 
jargon  language  and  their  translation.  In  1879 
he  furnished  to  Major  Powell  a  more  extended 
account  of  the  Twana,  Clallam,  and  Chema- 
kum  Indians,  and  has  written  a  history  of  the 
Congregational  Association  of  Oregon  and 
Washington  Territory — an  octavo  pamphlet  of 
124  pages,  and  a  memorial  sketch  of  the  life  of 
Rev.  S.  H.  Marsh,  D.D.,  first  President  of  Pa 
cific  University — an  octavo  pamphlet  of  58 
pages.  The  last  two  were  published  in  1881. 

Science. — Says  Carl  Ritter,  the  eminent 
geographer:  "  The  Missionary  Herald  is  where 
the  reader  must  look  to  find  the  most  valuable 
and  instructive  documents  that  have  been  sent 
home  by  the  agents  of  any  society,  and  where 
a  rich  store  of  scientific,  historical  and  antiqua 
rian  details  may  be  seen The 

Herald  is  a  medium  through  which  a  great 
amount  of  scientific  knowledge  goes  into  Chris 
tian  and  popular  reading.  Scientific  journals 
quote  freely  from  this  publication."  The  Paci- 


208  History  of  Indian  Missions 

fie  coast  missionaries  have  contributed  a  share 
to  this  scientific  knowledge. 

Geography. — A  part  of  what  they  have  done  in 
this  direction  -may  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  the 
list  of  books  given  in  this  chapter  under  the  head 
of  literature,  especially  those  of  Messrs.  Parker, 
Hines,  White,  Brewer  and  Gray — while  their 
letters  and  those  of  the  other  missionaries  to 
their  home  boards,  and  published  in  their  mis 
sionary  magazines,  added  to  that  knowledge. 
Few  persons  except  fur  trappers  and  traders 
were  here  before  them,  and  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  held  possession.  Few,  if  any,  of  the 
common  traders  or  trappers  had  the  ability  to 
write  a  description  of  the  country  for  publica 
tion,  while  the  intelligent  men  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company  did  not  wish  to  have  the  re 
sources  of  the  country  described;  hence,  I  have 
been  unable  to  find  a  single  book  written  by 
any  person  of  that  company  previous  to  the 
advent  of  the  missionaries,  although  at  that 
time  they  had  traded  in  the  country  for  twenty- 
two  years.  Hence,  Hon.  J.  Q.  A.  Thornton,  in 
his  Oregon  and  California,  wrote:  "It  is  suffi 
cient  to  say  that  the  facts  respecting  the  char 
acter  of  the  country  which  the  missionaries  and 
these  emigrants  communicated  to  their  friends 
and  the  public  in  the  States,  caused  great  num 
bers  to  turn  their  eyes  to  the  interesting,  beau- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  209 

tiful,  yet  distant  country  of  Oregon."  (Vol.  I, 
page  23.) 

Geology. — Professor  Silliman,  of  Yale  College, 
acknowledged  that  he  was  indebted  to  a  mis 
sionary,  whose  name  is  not  given  (Mr.  Parker, 
probably),  for  his  early  knowledge  of  the  ba 
saltic  columns  on  the  Columbia  River.  In  the 
Missionary  Herald  Q{  October,  1837,  is  a  de 
scription  by  Mr.  Spalding,  of  the  geological 
structure  and  soda  fountains  of  the  country 
along  the  route;  and  Mr.  Parker,  in  his  work, 
besides  noticing  the  geological  structure  in 
various  places,  devotes  a  chapter  of  fifteen 
pages  to  the  subject,  and  gives  a  full  page  il 
lustration  of  the  basaltic  columns  on  the  Co 
lumbia.  Says  the  New  Yorker •,  of  May,  1838: 
"  Mr.  Parker's  observations  on  the  geography 
and  the  geology  of  the  country  through  which 
he  passed  are  alone  richly  worth  twice  the  cost 
of  the  volume." 

Ethnology. — During  the  past  twenty  or  thirty 
years  this  branch  of  science  has  attracted  the 
attention  of  some  of  the  best  minds  of  the 
country.  The  missionaries  have  contributed 
their  share  to  the  description  of  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  Indians.  Mr.  Spalding 
wrote  about  the  flat  heads  of  the  Indians  in  the 
Missionary  Herald  of  1837;  Mr.  Gray  described 
the  various  tribes  on  the  Columbia  and  its 


2IO  History  of  Indian  Missions 

tributaries,  as  well  as  along  the  route  from  the 
east ;  Mr.  Smith,  in  the  same  magazine  of  1840, 
speaks  of  the  objects  of  worship  of  the  Nez 
Perces  ;  the  September  number,  for  1843,  con 
tains  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Whitman  quite  a  full 
account  of  the  superstitions,  medicine  men  and 
religious  customs  of  the  Cayuses  ;  Mr.  Parker 
devotes  three  chapters  in  his  book  to  a  de 
scription  of  the  Indians  ;  the  works  of  Messrs. 
Hines,  White  and  Gray,  also  describe  them  at 
considerable  length  ;  and  Mr.  M.  Eells  has  de 
scribed  the  Twanas,  Clallams  and  Chemakums. 
Language. — A  comparison  of  languages  is  a 
science  esteemed  of  great  value.  Missionaries 
do  not  publish  works  in  the  Indian  languages 
for  the  sake  of  the  whites,  but  our  best  scientific 
men  study  them  in  the  cause  of  science.  Hon. 
George  Gibbs,  in  1863,  published  a  Dictionary 
of  the  Chinook  Jargon,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institute,  which  is  the  best 
extant.  In  it  he  speaks  of  sixteen  published 
works,  which,  by  the  vocabularies  in  them,  had 
aided  him  in  his  dictionary,  and  the  first  of  these 
was  Mr.  Parker's  Exploring  Tour,  and  the 
seventh,  Lee  and  Frost's  Ten  Years  in  Oregon. 
Mr.  Parker's  work  also  contains  a  vocabulary  of 
the  Nez  Perces  language  of  140  words,  of  the 
Klikitat  language  of  134  words;  and  of  118 
words  in  the  Calapooia  language.  In  the  Mis- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  211 

sionary  Herald  of  1839,  Rev.  A.  B.  Smith  de 
scribes  that  of  the  Nez  Perces.  Miss  S.  L. 
McBeth,  missionary  among  the  latter  tribe, 
had,  in  1879,  collected  10,000  or  15,000  Nez 
Perces  words  with  their  English  definitions  for 
a  dictionary,  together  with  the  outlines  of  a 
Nez  Perces  and  English  grammar.  Her  literary 
work  is  very  highly  commended  by  Hon.  J. 
H.  Trumbull,  LL.D.,  probably  one  of  the  best 
linguists  in  the  United  States,  and  the  late 
Professor  Joseph  Henry,  Director  of  the  Smith 
sonian  Institution.  Rev.  M.  Eells  furnished 
in  1879  to  Major  J.  W.  Powell,  of  the  U.  S. 
Geographical  and  Geological  Survey,  780  words 
and  phrases  in  the  Chemakum  language,  1,792 
in  that  of  the  Twanas,  1,850  in  the  Squakson 
dialect  of  the  Nisqually,  2,040  in  the  Clallam 
language.  The  works  mentioned  in  the  para 
graph  in  this  chapter,  in  regard  to  literature  in 
the  Nez  Perces  and  Spokane  languages,  are  the 
only  ones  which  have  been  published  in  those 
languages,  and  that  in  the  Chinook  jargon  the 
only  one  in  that  language,  except  dictionaries. 
Natural  History  and  Meteorology. — Mr.  Par 
ker  devotes  two  chapters  of  his  work  to  the 
natural  history  of  the  region,  describing  the 
birds,  quadrupeds,  fishes,  and  botany;  and  an 
other  chapter  mainly  to  the  climate — giving  a 
table  of  the  thermometer  three  times  a  day, 


212  History  of  Indian  Missions 

and  a  note  of  the  weather  each  forenoon  and 
afternoon,  from  October  4th,  1835, to  May  I5th, 
1836,  while  he  was  in  the  country — by  far  the 
earliest  table  of  the  kind  which  the  writer  has 
seen. 

Railroad. — It  may  be  as  well  here  to  men 
tion  that  Mr.  Parker  firct  announced  to  the 
public  the  practicability  of  a  railroad  through 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  saying  in  his  edition  of 
1838:  "  There  would  be  no  difficulty  in  the  way 
of  constructing  a  railroad  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean;  and  probably  the  time  may 
not  be  far  distant  when  trips  will  be  made 
across  the  continent  as  they  have  been  made 
to  the  Niagara  Falls,  to  see  nature's  wonders'." 

Education. — Education  is  the  handmaid  of 
religion — so  much  so  that  most  missionaries  to 
the  heathen  are  convinced  that  they  must 
establish  schools  alongside  of  the  church.  It 
is  not  common,  however,  for  them  to  found 
these  for  the  whites,  yet  such  has  occasionally 
been  the  result  of  their  work  in  the  United 
States;  and  this  has  been  especially  true  on  the  f 
north-west  coast.  Dartmouth  College,  in  New 
Hampshire,  in  its  first  stages,  was  an  Indian 
mission  school  ;  and  Willamette  University, 
the  first  collegiate  institution  in  Oregon,  owes 
its  existence  to  the  dying  mission  of  the  Meth 
odist  Episcopal  Church  among  the  Indians. 
Phcenix-like,  this  has  risen  from  its  ashes. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  213 

After  the  last  reinforcement  of  that  mission 
had  arrived,  in  1840,  there  was  a  community  of 
about  seventy-five  persons,  more  than  twenty 
of  whom  were  children.  Around  this  mission, 
as  a  centre,  a  number  of  trappers,  travelers  and 
others  had  settled,  and  children  were  becoming 
somewhat  numerous.  The  settlers  saw  that 
most  of  them  Were  likely  to  remain,  and  hence 
naturally  began  to  turn  their  attention  to  the 
education  of  their  children.  It  required,  also, 
no  great  foresight  to  see  that  the  mission  was 
likely  to  close  before  many  years,  and  that 
whites  would  take  the  place  of  the  savages,  and, 
therefore,  that  schools  would  be  needed  for  the 
future.  Hence  Mr.  Farnham,  an  ardent  Amer 
ican,  who  visited  the  country  about  1838,  says 
of  the  missionaries:  "Their  object  in  settling 
in  Oregon  I  understood  to  be  two-fold — the 
one,  and  principal,  to  civilize  and  christianize 
the  Indians;  the  other,  and  not  less  important, 
the  establishment  of  religious  and  literary  in 
struction  for  the  benefit  of  the  white  emigrants; 
....  a  site  had  already  been  selected  for  an 
academical  building."  The  settlement  naturally 
looked  to  the  mission,  as  being  largely  com 
posed  of  educated  men,  to  take  the  lead  in  the 
enterprise,  and,  accordingly,  a  meeting  of  those 
interested  was  called  January  i/th,  1842,  ly 
Rev.  Jason  Lee,  at  his  house,  to  take  into  con- 


214  History  of  Indian  Missions 

sideration  the  subject  of  English  education  and 
a  literary  institution.  The  general  question 
was  there  discussed,  and  Dr.  J.  L.  Babcock, 
Rev.  D.  Leslie,  and  Rev.  G.  Hines,  all  of 
whom  were  connected  with  the  mission,  were 
appointed  to  call  a  public  meeting  with  refer 
ence  to  the  contemplated  institution.  This 
meeting  was  held  February  1st  following,  at 
the  "  Old  Mission,"  the  original  house  erected 
by  Mr.  Lee  in  1834,  half  a  mile  above  the  pres 
ent  town  of  Wheatland.  It  was  well  attended 
by  the  friends  of  education,  and,  after  a  careful 
investigation,  it  was  unanimously  resolved  to 
establish  a  collegiate  institution  for  the  benefit 
of  the  rising  generation  of  Oregon,  and  it  was 
named  "  The  Oregon  Institute."  Revs.  J.  Lee, 
D.  Leslie,  G.  Hines,  J.  L.  Parrish,  and  L.  H. 
Judson,  and  Messrs.  G.  Abernethy,  A.  Beers, 
H.  Campbell  and  J.  L.  Babcock,  were  elected 
its  first  Board  of  Trustees,  all  of  whom  had 
come  out  as  missionaries,  or  assistant  mission 
aries,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  An 
other  committee  was  chosen  to  select  a  site 
for  the  Institute,  and  the  place  which  they 
chose  was  on  Wallace  Prairie,  two  and  a  half 
miles  below  where  Salem  now  stands.  At  an 
other  meeting,  held  March  I5th  following,  a 
prospectus,  constitution  and  by-laws  were 
adopted.  These  stated  that  the  institution  was 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  215 

designed  not  only  to  promote  science,  but  also 
morality  and  piety;  that  it  should  always  be 
under  the  supervision  of  some  branch  of  the 
Protestant  Church;  that  it  should  be  begun  as 
an  academical  boarding-school,  with  the  inten 
tion  that  it  grow  into  a  university  whenever  the 
proper  authorities  should  think  it  expedient; 
and  that  it  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
that  society  of  evangelical  Christians  which 
should  first  pledge  itself  to  sustain  it.  It  was 
also  made  the  right  of  any  person  subscribing 
fifty  dollars  or  more,  and  paying  the  same  ac 
cording  to  the  terms  of  subscription,  to  be  as 
sociated  with  said  society  in  the  transaction  of 
business. 

A  subscription  paper  was  then  prepared,  in 
order  to  obtain  the  means  to  erect  a  suitable 
building,  and  $3,970  were  soon  subscribed,  all 
but  $410  of  which  was  from  those  who  were 
connected  with  the  Methodist  mission,  many 
of  the  persons  giving  from  one-fourth  to  one- 
third  of  all  they  possessed.  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  at  a  meeting  held  October 
26,  1842,  resolved  to  take  the  institution  under 
its  care,  and  pledged  itself  to  use  every  rea 
sonable  effort  to  sustain  it.  This  was  done  in 
accordance  with  the  article  of  the  constitution 
which  requested  some  branch  of  the  Protestant 
Church  to  do  so.  The  whole  action  was  rati- 


2i6  History  of  Indian  Missions 

fied  May  29,  1843,  by  a  meeting  of  the  whole 
community,  including  nearly  every  subscriber 
to  the  funds  of  the  institution,  and  the  property 
was  transferred  to  that  church.  This  was  done 
because  the  elementary  Board  of  Trustees  was 
believed  to  be  irresponsible,  that  is,  not  respon 
sible  to  any  special  body,  though  this  was 
necessarily  so  at  first.  Some  changes  were 
now  made  in  this  board,  though  only  one  per 
son,  W.  Hauxhurst,  Esq.,  was  chosen  as  a 
member,  who  had  not  been  connected  with 
Indian  missions.  The  building  was  begun  un 
der  the  superintendency  of  Hon.  W.  H.  Gray, 
who  had  been  released  from  the  mission  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  and  had  been  chosen  General  Super 
intendent  and  Secular  Agent  of  the  Institute  ; 
and  by  October,  1843,  three  thousand  dollars 
had  been  expended  on  it.  About  this  time 
Rev.  J.  Lee,  who  had  been  elected  President 
of  the  Board  at  its  first  annual  meeting,  deter 
mined  to  go  east,  to  promote  the  civil  and  re 
ligious  interests  of  the  country,  and  hence  he 
was  requested  and  authorized  to  act  while 
there  as  agent  for  the  institution,  to  solicit 
funds,  donations  for  a  library,  philosophical  ap 
paratus,  and  the  like  ;  but  he  died  while  in  the 
east,  bequeathing  to  it  one  hundred  dollars, 
in  addition  to  five  hundred  dollars  which  he 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  217 

had  previously  subscribed.  In  JVfay,  1844,  en 
ergetic  measures  were  made  to  proceed  with 
the  building,  by  the  survey  and  sale  of  lots,  so 
as  to  begin  school  in  the  fall,  when  Rev.  Geo. 
Gary  arrived,  and  closed  up  most  of  the  mis 
sions,  and  also  this  mission  manual  labor  school. 
This  school  had  a  building  erected  at  a  cost 
of  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  as  it  had  to  be  put 
to  some  other  use,  and  it  was  desirable  that  it 
should  be  used  as  nearly  as  possible  to  promote 
the  objects  contemplated  by  the  church  in  its 
erection,  Mr.  Gary  proposed  to  sell  it  to  the 
Trustees  of  the  Institute  for  four  thousand 
dollars.  Further,  as  the  location  was  much  bet 
ter  than  the  one  on  Wallace  Prairie,  and  as  they 
had  an  opportunity  to  sell  the  property  there  for 
three  thousand  dollars,  they  did  so,  and  were 
enabled  to  purchase  the  school-house  and 
lands  of  Mr.  Gary.  Thereafter  the  Oregon  Mis 
sion  Manual  Labor  School,  erected  for  Indian 
children,  became  the  Oregon  Institute,  devoted 
mainly  to  the  education  of  the  children  of  the 
whites.  Mr.  Gary  had  an  opportunity  to  sell 
this  property  to  the  Roman  Catholics  for  twice 
the  amount  he  received,  but  preferred  to  do  as 
he  did — the  other  four  thousand  dollars  being 
in  reality  a  donation  of  the  Mission  Board 
to  the  Institute — to  the  cause  of  education 
among  the  whites  of  Oregon 


21 8  History  of  Indian  Missions 

In  the  fall  of  1844  the  school  began  with 
about  twenty  scholars  under  Mrs.  C.  A.  Wilson 
as  teacher,  who  had  come  to  Oregon  as  an  as 
sistant  missionary.  She  continued  until  1848 
in  this  position.  Among  others  who  have 
taught  in  the  school  are,  Miss  Mary  Leslie, 
Rev.  C.  Eells  and  wife,  all  of  whom  had  been 
connected  with  some  of  the  Indian  Missions. 
Mrs.  L.  L.  Grubbs,  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Jason 
Lee,  and  a  graduate  of  the  institution,  was  for 
several  years  first  a  teacher  and  afterwards 
preceptress  of  the  school,  and  after  leaving  it, 
with  her  husband  taught  at  Wilbur  Academy, 
in  Douglas  County  and  in  Baker  County. 

Among  those  who  have  been  connected  with 
the  institution  as  Trustees,  have  been  the  fol 
lowing  missionaries,  who  labored  for  its  good 
as  long  as  they  were  in  the  country,  or  until 
the  time  of  their  death:  Rev.  Jason  Lee,  to 
whom  reference  has  already  been  made;  Mr. 
A.  Beers,  who  for  several  years  was  treasurer, 
and  died  in  1853;  Mr.  H.  Campbell,  deceased; 
Hon.  George  Abernethy,  a  Trustee  from  the 
beginning,  in  1842,  until  the  time  of  his  death, 
May  2,  1877;  Rev.  D.  Leslie,  one  of  the  original 
nine  and  President  of  the  Board  from  1844  un" 
til  the  time  of  his  death,  March  1st,  1869,  with 
the  exception  of  one  year,  when  he  was  absent 
on  a  voyage  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  for  the 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  219 

benefit  of  the  health  of  his  family;  Rev.  A.  F. 
Waller,  a  member  from  1843  until  his  death, 
December  26th,  1872,  and  for  many  years  the 
zealous  and  successful  agent  of  the  institution, 
performing  three  years  of  such  work  without 
reward;  Rev.  G.  Hines,  another  of  the  first 
nine,  and  a  member  at  the  time  of  his  death  in 
1873;  Dr.  W.  H.  Wilson,  from  1843  to  1853, 
and  Secretary  a  part  of  the  time;  and  Rev.  J. 
L.  Parrish,  a  Trustee  from  the  beginning  until 
the  present  time,  Treasurer  a  part  of  the  time, 
and  President  of  the  Board  since  Father  Les 
lie's  death. 

In  January,  1853,  the  Institute  grew  into 
Willamette  University,  by  act  of  the  Legisla 
ture  of  Oregon,  and  in  April,  1867,  the  Medical 
Department  was  added.  In  July,  1859,  the  first 
person,  Miss  Emily  J.  York,  now  Mrs.  Moore, 
Dean  of  the  Woman's  College  Hall,  received 
her  diploma  as  Mistress  of  English  Literature, 
and  since  that  time  185  others  have  grad 
uated  in  all  the  literary  departments,  and  1 10 
in  the  medical  department.  The  number  of 
students  has  varied,  reaching  225  in  October, 
1874.  During  the  winter  of  1 880-81  300  were 
in  attendance  in  all  departments.  The  influence 
which  Indian  missions,  through  these  students, 
has  had  in  Oregon,  is  inestimable. 

Not  much  was  done  for  the  endowment  of 


22O  History  of  Indian  Missions 

the  institution  previous  to  1856,  when  Rev.  T. 
H.  Pearne,  then  Delegate  to  the  General  Con 
ference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
from  Oregon,  was  authorized  to  solicit  funds 
for  the  purpose  in  the  east.  As  the  Missionary 
Board  had  secured  through  its  missionaries  con 
siderable  property  in  Oregon,  it  was  thought 
proper  to  ask  it  for  help,  and  with  liberality  it 
responded,  by  promising  to  pay  five  thousand 
dollars  as  soon  as  fifteen  thousand  dollars 
should  be  secured  from  other  sources  and  well 
invested.  This  was  accomplished  by  August, 
1859,  when  the  Missionary  Board  proposed  to 
transfer  about  eighty  acres  of  land  which  it 
owned  in  the  vicinity  of  Salem,  as  an  equiva 
lent  for  the  money  promised.  This  was  ac 
cepted  by  the  Trustees  in  1864,  and  in  1867 
the  final  papers  were  executed;  thus  a  hand 
some  gift,  the  cause  of  the  first  endowment  of 
the  University,  was  bestowed  by  the  Mission 
ary  Board,  on  account  of  the  early  labors  of  its 
missionaries,  and  the  interest  they  had  awak 
ened  in  the  east  in  regard  to  the  subject  of 
education  on  this  coast. 

Also  of  the  twenty-two  thousand  dollars  se 
cured  in  Oregon  for  this  first  endowment,  three 
thousand  was  given  by  those  who  had  come 
to  the  country  in  connection  with  the  mis 
sion. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  221 

"  They  came,  those  men  of  prayer,  of  lives  austere, 
Of  faith  unwavering,  and  of  toil  severe. 

*  *  *  *  *  * 

They  came  and  planted  in  the  wilderness 
A  tender  vine,  a  vine  whose  fruit  shall  bless 
Unnumbered  generations;  and  their  deeds 
Do  follow  them  and  help  men  in  their  needs. 

*  *  *  *  *  * 

And  savage  men,  and  nature  wild  and  free, 

These  they  subdued  by  faith  and  industry ; 

And  here  they  planted  firm,  and  strong,  and  deep, 

A  corner-stone,  a  watch  for  us  to  keep. 

Here  for  long  years  the  wisdom  and  the  youth 

Have  quaffed  rich  nectar  from  the  fount  of  truth. 

These  walls  have  been  our  home ;  the  dead  our  friends. 

A  tender  memory  with  our  duty  blends."  * 

Whitman  Seminary. — In  the  upper  part  of 
Walla  Walla  City,  Washington  Territory,  is 
a  building  with  this  name,  in  honor  of  the 
martyr  missionary  who  fell  about  six  miles 
from  the  place. 

In  1859,  very  soon  after  the  country  east  of 
the  Cascade  Mountains  was  declared  open  for 
settlement,  Rev.  C.  Eells,  one  of  the  early  mis 
sionaries  of  the  American  Board  of  Commis 
sioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  turned  his  eyes 
toward  Walla  Walla.  He  soon  purchased  of 
the  Mission  Board  in  Boston  their  right  to  the 
mission  claim  at  Waiilatpu,  where  Dr.  Whitman 

*  A.  T.  Hawley,  at  the  Fourteenth  Annual  Reunion  of  the 
Graduates  of  Willamette  University,  June  23d,  1880. 


222  History  of  Indian  Missions 

and  his  associates  were  massacred.  This  was 
the  residence  of  himself  and  family  most  of  the 
time  from  1860  to  1872. 

The  great  grave  of  Dr.  Whitman,  wife  and 
nine  others  who  were  killed,  was  in  sight  of  his 
house,  and  the  memory  of  his  deeds  was  in  his 
mind.  He  and  others  felt  as  if  a  monument  of 
stone  ought  to  be  erected  over  the  grave,  yet 
he  believed  that  if  Dr.  Whitman  could  have 
anything  to  say  in  regard  to  it,  it  would  be  that 
the  best  monument  would  be  a  high  school  of 
earnest  Christian  character,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  youth  of  the  valley.  Hence,  a  charter  was 
obtained  from  the  Legislature  of  Washington 
Territory  of  1859-1860,  and  a  Board  of  Trustees 
was  appointed,  two  of  whom  were  early  mis 
sionaries  to  the  Indians.  The  way  then  not 
being  open,  little  more  was  done.  Mr.  Eells, 
however,  in  all  of  his  varied  labors,  kept  the 
idea  of  a  school  continually  in  view,  until  early 
in  1866,  when  subscription  papers  were  circu 
lated,  a  site  donated  by  Dr.  D.  S. "Baker  on 
certain  conditions,  and  steps  immediately  taken 
to  erect  a  building  twenty  by  forty-six  feet, 
two  stories  high.  It  was  built  during  the  sum 
mer,  and  so  far  finished  in  the  fall,  at  a  cost  of 
$4,842.42,  as  to  be  dedicated  on  the  1 3th  of 
October,  and  was  opened  for  use  a  few  days 
afterwards.  The  cost  was  not  all  paid  at  that 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  223 

time,  but  when  it  was  paid  it  was  found  that  Mr. 
Eells  had  given  $2,900,  including  interest. 
Since  then  he  has  given  about  $1,750  addi 
tional  to  the  seminary,  making  $4,600  in  all; 
has  acted  as  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
from  the  beginning  to  the  present  time — more 
than  twenty  years — and  also,  as  its  Principal, 
taught  in  it  for  about  two  and  a  half  years  sub 
sequent  to  April,  1867. 

Rev.  Harvey  Clarke,  who  was  sent  out  by 
some  of  the  north-western  churches  with  the 
prime  idea  of  benefiting  the  Indians,  came  to 
the  country  in  1840.  When  he  arrived  he  found 
it  impracticable,  and  immediately  turned  his  at 
tention  to  the  wants  of  the  whites,  and  began  a 
school,  which  was  at  first  an  orphan  boarding 
school,  but  in  later  years  it  became  the  Pacific 
University.  With  the  exception  of  this  early 
beginning,  the  history  of  that  college  belongs 
more  properly  to  Home  than  to  Foreign  Mis 
sions. 

Rev.  E.  Walker  and  C.  Eells  voted  in  1848 
'  for  the  establishment  of  Tualatin  Academy  at 
the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Congregational 
and  Presbyterian  Association,  and  both  would 
then  have  been  chosen  as  Trustees,  had  their 
relations  with  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
been  dissolved;  but  there  was  a  probability  at 
that  time  of  their  resuming  work  among  the 


224  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Spokane  Indians.  This  institution  has  since 
grown  into  Pacific  University,  at  Forest  Grove, 
Oregon. 

Mr.  Walker  afterwards  removed  to  Forest 
Grove,  to  educate  his  children  at  the  institu 
tion;  and  for  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  he 
served  as  a  Trustee.  He  died  in  November, 
1877.  He  was  most  deeply  interested  in  its 
success,  and  gave  a  thousand  dollars  of  his 
property,  and  his  counsel  and  zeal  for  it  were 
direct  and  efficient. 

When  Rev.  C.  Eells  left  the  mission  he  en 
gaged  more  directly  in  educational  work  than 
most  of  his  brethren.  The  first  winter  (1848-9) 
he  and  his  wife  spent  in  the  Oregon  Institute 
at  Salem,  Oregon,  where,  says  Rev.  G.  Hines 
(Oregon  and  its  Institutions,  page  228),  they 
"  exerted  an  excellent  influence  and  contrib 
uted  much  while  they  remained  to  give  charac 
ter  and  stability  to  the  school."  He  was  next 
called  to  take  charge  of  the  institution  at 
Forest  Grove,  where  he  remained  for  about  a 
year  and  a  half.  In  1851  he  removed  to  the  re 
gion  near  Hillsboro',  and  there  taught  school 
most  of  the  time  until  1857,  when  he  was  re 
called  to  Forest  Grove,  as  principal  of  Tuala 
tin  Academy,  where  he  remained  two  and  a  half 
years.  He  then  resigned,  to  begin  his  efforts 
for  Whitman  Seminary  at  Walla  Waiia.  Mrs. 


m 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  225 

Eells  also  donated  to  Pacific  University  a  block 
of  land  in  Forest  Grove,  to  aid  the  endowment 
of  a  professorship  of  Mathematics,  which,  with 
accumulated  interest,  now  amounts  to  about 
two  thousand  dollars. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  influence  of  both 
missions  in  Oregon  has  been  very  wide  on  be 
half  of  the  cause  of  education  on  the  north-west 
coast.  Thousands  of  youth,  many  of  them  now 
filling  important  positions,  have  received  the 
impress  of  their  training,  and  influences  have 
thus  been  exerted  which  will  never  die. 

Temperance. — The  first  work  of  this  kind  of 
any  importance  in  Oregon,  was  begun  by  the 
members  of  the  Methodist  mission.  About  1837 
Mr.  Ev/ing  Young  erected  buildings  with  the 
intention  of  carrying  on  a  distillery  in  the  Wil 
lamette  valley.  Fearing  that  it  might  have 
an  evil  influence  not  only  on  the  whites,  but 
also  prove  dangerous  to  the  settlement  by  its 
influence  on  the  Indians,  Mr.  Lee  remonstrated 
with  him,  but  in  vain.  He  then  stated  the  case 
to  his  friends,  and  with  such  effect  that  they 
raised  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  which  they 
offered  to  Mr.  Young,  provided  he  would  re 
linquish  the  business.  He  refused  the  money,  but 
was  so  affected  by  this  expression  of  the  earn 
est  desire  of  these  people,  that  he  stopped  the 
work — although  he  had  completed  the  build 
ing,  raised  the  arch,  and  set  the  boiler. 


226  History  of  Indian  Missions 

In  June,  1844,  the  Legislature  of  Oregon 
passed  a  law  which  forbade  the  importing  or 
introducing  of  ardent  spirits,  imposing  a  fine 
of  fifty  dollars  on  any  person  who  should  break 
the  law;  also  forbidding  the  sale,  barter  or  trade 
of  such  spirits,  under  penalty  of  twenty  dollars 
for  each  offense;  and  the  erection  of  a  distil 
lery,  with  a  fine  of  one  hundred  dollars  for  such 
an  offense.  This  law,  said  Dr.  E.  White,  sub- 
Indian  agent,  aided  materially  in  managing  the 
Indians,  and  he  further  added  that  the  colony 
were  indebted  to  the  Methodist  mission  and 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  for  it.  The  bill 
was  introduced  into  the  Legislature  by  Hon. 
W.  H.  Gray. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  22? 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MISSIONS  AND  INDIAN  WARS. 

THE  Gospel  is  a  gospel  of  peace.  It  aims  to 
prevent  war  wherever  it  is  carried.  It  has  been 
successful  in  doing  so  among  the  Indians,  by 
preventing  wars  between  various  tribes  ;  it  has 
also  had  a  reflex  influence  on  the  race  which 
has  carried  it  to  them  in  two  ways  ;  it  has  pre 
vented  some  tribes  from  engaging  in  wars  with 
the  whites  who  otherwise  would  have  done  so, 
and  also  in  nearly  every  war  which  has  occur 
red  north  of  California  and  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  it  has  so  influenced  Christian  Indians 
as  to  largely  aid  our  troops,  save  many  valuable 
lives,  and  shorten  such  wars. 

Ti-lau'-kait,  one  of  the  Cayuse  Indians  en 
gaged  in  the  Whitman  massacre,  said  to  Dr. 
Whitman,  after  the  doctor  had  been  some  years 
among  his  tribe,  substantially  as  follows:  "  Doc 
tor,  I  am  mad  at  you.  Before  you  came,  we  fought 
with  each  other,  killed  each  other,  and  enjoyed 
it.  You  have  taught  us  that  it  is  wrong,  and  we 


228  History  of  Indian  Missions 

have  in  a  great  measure  ceased.  So  I  am  mad  at 
you  for  preventing  our  doing  what  we  enjoyed." 
Ti-lau'-kait  afterwards  allowed  his  evil  passions 
to  overcome  him,  participated  in  the  massacre, 
and  for  this  he  was  hung  at  Oregon  City.  But 
the  effects  of  the  Gospel  have  been  so  manifest 
in  our  Indian  wars,  on  those  who  have  yielded 
themselves  to  its  influence,  that  if  Government 
had  paid  all  the  expenses  of  the  missions,  and 
yet  if  no  Indian  had  been  converted,  no  country 
saved  to  the  nation,  no  literary  or  scientific 
knowledge  gained,  no  institutions  of  learning 
established,  no  recompense  obtained  except 
that  which  has  been  received  in  these  wars,  the 
money  would  have  been  wisely  invested.  We 
will  examine  each  war  separately. 

I.  The  Cayuse  War. — This  was  caused  by  the 
massacre  of  Dr.  Whitman  and  thirteen  others, 
in  November,  1847,  when  forty-seven  captives 
were  taken  by  the  Cayuse,  which  were  ransomed 
by  Governor  Ogden,  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com 
pany;  after  which  about  400  volunteers  went 
from  the  Willamette  valley  in  1848,  fought  and 
conquered  the  Indians,  who  escaped  beyond 
their  reach,  as  related  in  Chapter  I.  In  1850 
Governor  Lane  succeeded  in  securing  five  of 
the  murderers,  who  were  tried,  condemned  and 
hung  at  Oregon  City. 

After  Dr.  Whitman's  death,  Mr.  Canfield,  an 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  229 

emigrant  who  was  stopping  at  the  mission  that 
winter,  escaped  by  night,  and  went  to  Lapwai, 
Mr.  Spalding's  station.  There  was  great  dan 
ger  that  the  Nez  Perces  would  join  the  Cayuses 
in  the  war,  as  the  two  tribes  were  largely  inter 
married  and  quite  intimate.  Knowing  this, 
Mr.  Canfield,  when  he  reached  a  camp  of  the 
Nez  Perces,  said  nothing  about  the  murderers, 
but  procured  a  guide  and  proceeded  to  the 
mission,  where  he  arrived  the  next  day.  Mr. 
Spalding  had  not  then  returned,  but,  as  soon 
as  Mr.  Canfield  was  alone  with  Mrs.  Spalding, 
he  told  her  of  the  sad  event,  and  they  consult 
ed  what  was  best  to  be  done.  Mr.  Canfield 
thought  it  best  to  wait  until" the  Indians  should 
learn  of  it,  and  then  see  what  it  would  be  wise 
to  do.  But  Mrs.  Spalding  thought  differently. 
She  determined  to  tell  the  chiefs  who  were  the 
most  friendly,  and  throw  herself  under  their 
protection.  Jacob  and  Eagle,  two  friendly 
chiefs,  were  there  at  the  time,  and  she  immedi 
ately  told  them.  They  advised  her  to  leave 
her  own  house  and  go  to  their  camp,  as  being 
a  safer  place  in  case  hostile  Indians  should 
come,  and  gave  orders  to  their  young  men  to 
protect  her.  On  Monday  morning  an  Indian 
came  from  Walla  Walla,  and  with  him  several 
Nez  Perces  from  the  camp  where  Mr.  Canfield 
had  procured  his  guide,  ready  for  pillage  and 


230  History  of  Indian  Missions 

murder.  They  went  to  the  mission  buildings, 
which  they  pillaged,  but  the  protection  of  the 
friendly  Nez  Perces  most  likely  saved  Mrs. 
Spalding  from  the  fate  of  Mrs.  Whitman. 

Mr.  Spalding  returned  the  same  afternoon, 
and  they  remained  under  the  protection  of  the 
Indians  until  Governor  Ogden  reached  Fort 
Walla  Walla. 

Mr.  Spalding  has  also  left  the  following 
statement  :  Some  days  after  the  murder  of  Dr. 
Whitman,  Edward,  son  of  a  Cayuse  chief, 
went  up  to  the  mission  saw-mill,  about  twenty 
miles  from  Dr.  Whitman's  station,  and  was 
bringing  down  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  Young  and 
Mrs.  Joseph  Smith  and  their  families,  with  the 
intention  of  murdering  them,  when  Timothy, 
a  Nez  Perces  chief,  and  Eagle,  native  Christians, 
arrived  from  Lapwai,  and  said  that  no  more 
Americans  should  be  killed  while  they  were 
alive.  No  more  were  killed. 

When  Governor  Ogden  reached  Fort  Walla 
Walla  he  immediately  sent  an  express  to  Mr. 
Spalding,  requesting  him  to  join  him.  In  forty- 
eight  hours  Mr.  Spalding  and  wife  and  ten 
others  were  on  their  way,  escorted  by  forty 
Nez  Perces  Indians.  They  soon  reached  Wal 
la  Walla,  and  for  this  the  Indians  received 
twelve  blankets  and  other  articles. 

Mr.  Spalding  also  added  that  in  1848,  when 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  231 

the  north-west  tribes  assembled  at  the  Des- 
chutes,  waiting  for  ammunition  to  be  brought  to 
them  by  priests,  with  which  to  cut  off  the 
Willamette  settlements,  the  Nez  Perces  were 
strongly  urged  to  join  them.  But  instead  of 
doing  so,  they  refused,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
sent  word  to  the  combined  camp,  that  if  they 
attempted  to  fall  upon  the  American  settle 
ments,  they,  the  Nez  Perces,  would  fall  upon 
their  rear,  sweep  their  country  of  their  herds  of 
horses,  and  retire  east  of  the  mountains.  This 
unexpected  intelligence  coming  at  the  moment 
of  the  unexpected  seizure,  by  Lieutenant  Rogers 
of  the  army  then  at  the  Dalles,  of  the  ammu 
nition  from  the  priests,  completely  checked  the 
savages,  and  saved  the  settlements,  then  pe 
culiarly  exposed  on  account  of  the  rush  of  the 
able-bodied  Americans  to  the  gold  mines  of 
California. 

Says  Governor  Abernethy,  Governor  of  Ore 
gon  from  1845  to  1849:  "  The  strongest  efforts 
were  made,  I  believe,  to  induce  the  Nez  Perces 
to  join  the  combined  hosts  against  the  Amer 
icans,  and  if  they  had  done  so  the  Americans 
would  have  been  destroyed."  And  he  also  adds, 
"  I  firmly  believe  that  the  instructions  the  Nez 
Perces  received  from  the  missionaries  kept  them 
from  joining  in  the  wars  against  the  Amer 
icans. 


232  History  of  Indian  Missions 

During  the  same  war  the  Spokane  Indians, 
where  Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells  had  labored, 
were  even  more  friendly  than  the  Nez  Perces, 
for  not  even  a  part  of  the  tribe  became  hostile, 
nor  were  any  buildings  pillaged,  although 
great  inducements  were  held  out  to  them  by 
the  Cayuses  to  join  in  the  war. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  considered  safe 
for  the  mission  families  to  remain  at  their  sta 
tion,  unprotected  except  by  these  Indians, 
until  March  15,  1848,  more  than  two  and  a  half 
months  after  the  station  among  the  Nez  Perces 
had  been  abandoned,  and  three  and  a  half 
months  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Whitman.  Dur 
ing  this  time  the  Indians  about  Fort  Colville 
grew  so  hostile,  on  account  of  rumors  which 
came  that  some  of  their  friends  had  been 
killed,  that  Mr.  Lewes  was  obliged  to  keep  the 
fort  guarded  night  and  day  for  two  weeks. 
Thus  the  Indians,  both  to  the  north  and  south 
of  the  Spokanes,  were  hostile,  yet  they  re 
mained  friendly.  Rumors  of  danger  from  the 
hostile  Cayuses  at  last  became  so  startling 
that  it  was  not  thought  safe  to  remain  ;  hence, 
Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells,  with  their  families, 
removed  to  Fort  Colville,  where  they  remained 
more  than  ten  weeks,  after  which  they  were 
conducted  to  the  Willamette  valley.  (See 
Chapter  I.) 


f)istorg  of  f  nbkm  P 


A  Chief  of  the  Yakama  War. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  233 

Very  soon  after  their  removal  to  Fort  Col- 
ville,  the  gentlemen  of  the  mission  and  one  of 
the  older  boys  returned  to  the  mission  station 
to  look  after  the  things.  They  spent  the  Sab 
bath  there,  but  towards  night  a  war-whoop 
was  heard  in  the  timber  not  far  distant.  It  was 
enough  to  startle  a  brave  heart,  for  it  proceed 
ed  from  a  band  of  Indians,  mounted  on  horses, 
who  were  rapidly  coming  nearer.  Still  it 
seemed  impossible  to  do  anything  except  to 
await  the  result,  and  learn  whether  they  were 
foes  or  friends.  As  they  came  closer,  the 
white  men  were  able  to  distinguish  that  they 
were  friendly  Spokanes.  And  now  for  the 
cause.  They  had  been  camped  twenty  or 
twenty-five  miles  distant,  while  the  enemy 
was  camped  fifty  or  sixty  miles  from  the  mis 
sion  station.  One  of  the  Spokanes  had  visited 
the  Cayuse  camp,  and  had  found  that  a  few  of 
the  Cayuses  were  absent,  but  he  could  not 
learn  where  they  had  gone.  He  suspected, 
however,  from  tracks  that  he  saw,  that  they 
had  gone  secretly  to  the  station  to  murder 
Messrs.  Walker  and  Eells.  The  spy  returned 
to  his  camp  and  informed  the  chief,  who  gave 
orders  immediately  for  his  young  men  to  rush 
to  the  station,  twenty-one  of  whom  did  so. 
They  had  expected  to  find  the  Cayuses  there, 
and  their  teachers  murdered ;  but,  on  nearing 


234  History  of  Indian  Missions 

the  place,  they  became  satisfied  that  it  was  not 
so,  and  raised  the  shout  as  one  of  joy.  Nor 
would  they  rest  easy  until,  having  guarded 
them  during  the  night,  they  saw  their  teachers 
next  day  on  the  way  to  Fort  Colville,  accom 
panied  the  whole  distance  by  some  of  their 
number. 

After  the  volunteers  had  driven  the  Cayuse 
Indians  out  of  their  own  country,  across  Snake 
River,  and  more  than  half  way  to  the  Spokane 
mission,  although  the  Spokane  chiefs  sent  word 
to  the  Cayuses  not  to  come  to  their  lands,  the 
reply  was  :  "  We  shall  not  regard  what  you 
say";  consequently  the  Spokane  and  Flathead 
Indians  prepared  for  war  with  them  when  they 
should  come.  They,  however,  did  not  come. 

According  to  the  unsolicited  testimony  of 
Chief  Factor  Lewes,  of  Fort  Colville,  Mr.  Eells 
was  indefatigable  in  his  efforts  to  maintain  a 
good  understanding  between  the  Indians  near 
his  station  and  the  whites,  amid  "  much  per 
sonal  risk,"  as  well  as  "bodily  fatigue,"  and  he 
had  the  privilege  of  seeing  his  efforts  crowned 
with  success.  ' 

During  the  ten  weeks,  less  one  day,  while 
the  families  were  at  the  fort,  Mr.  Eells  slept 
there  ten  nights.  The  rest  of  the  time  he  was 
visiting  Indian  camps,  holding  councils,  looking 
after  mission  property,  and  keeping  expresses 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  235 

running  to  the  officers  of  the  volunteers.  Ac 
cording  to  his  estimate,  during  that  time  he 
traveled  on  horseback  1,400  miles. 

Instead  of  pillaging,  these  Indians  protected 
the  mission  buildings  until  long  after  the  re 
moval  of  their  teachers  to  the  Willamette.: 
Previous  to  the  time  when  the  mission  families 
left,  the  only  two  sickles  at  the  place  were 
handed  to  the  Indians,  and  they  were  request 
ed  to  harvest  the  mission  wheat  when  ripe,  but 
were  told  that  if  their  teachers  did  not  return 
by  winter,  they  might  use  it.  They  harvested 
it,  but  the  chief  said  it  must  be  reserved  for  the 
use  of  their  teachers  when  they  should  return. 
On  account  of  great  need,  a  portion  of  the 
wheat  was  used  by  the  Indians,  but  afterwards 
replaced.  About  two  years  after,  arrangements 
were  made  for  Mr.  Walker  to  accompany  Dr. 
Dart,  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,  to  the 
Spokanes.  Quickly  the  Indians  took  some  of 
the  wheat  and  carried  it  to  Fort  Colville,  sev 
enty  miles  distant,  where  it  was  ground  and 
brought  back  for  the  use  of  the  expected  party. 
Unexpected  intelligence  from  Indians  in  South 
ern  Oregon,  however,  frustrated  the  plan  of  Dr. 
Dart  and  Mr.  Walker,  so  that  they  failed  to 
visit  the  Spokanes. 

II.   The    Yakama    War. — This    occurred    in 
1855-6,   and   was  the    most    widespread    war 


236  History  of  Indian  Missions 

which  has  ever  devastated  the  coast,  extend 
ing  from  Rogue  River  on  the  south, 'to  the 
Spokanes  on  the  north,  and  from  Puget  Sound 
on  the  west,  to  the  Nez  Perces  on  the  east. 

Some,  but  not  all,  of  the  Spokane  Indians 
were  indeed  engaged  in  it.     When  the  council 
was  held  among  them,  in  which  it  was  decided 
to   unite  with   the  other  hostile  Indians,  Big 
Star,  chief  of  that  portion  among  whom  mis 
sionary  labor  had  mainly  been  spent,  opposed 
the  war  as  long  as  he  could,  and  after  the  final 
vote  was  taken,  he  drew  off  with  his  band,  say 
ing  that  they  would  not  fight  against  the  whites. 
At  the  beginning  of  this  war,  March  26,  1856, 
a  massacre  took  place  at  the  Cascades,  Wash 
ington  Territory,  and  before  the  Yakama  Indi 
ans  were  driven  back  seventeen  whites  were 
killed    and    twelve    wounded.     Among    those 
killed  was  James  Sinclair,  of  Fort  Walla  Walla, 
of  the    Hudson's   Bay  Company.     Forty  per 
sons  were  besieged  in  a  store  for   two  days, 
until  help  arrived  from  the  Dalles.     Says  L. 
W.   Coe,  in  a  letter  describing  this  massacre: 
"  We  had  no  water,  but  during  the  first  night 
a  Spokane  Indian,  who  was  traveling  with  Sin 
clair,  and  was  in  the  store  with  us,  volunteered 
to  get  a  pail  of  water  from  the  river.     I  con 
sented,  and  he  stripped  himself  naked,  jumped 
out  and  down  the  bank,  and  was  back  in  no 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  237 

time.  .  .  .  On  the  next  night  a  house  near 
by  was  fired,  and  kept  us  in  light  until  about 
four  o'clock  A.  M.,  when  darkness  returning,  I 
sent  the  Spokane  Indian  for  water  from  the 
river,  and  he  filled  two  barrels.  He  went  to 
and  fro  like  lightning." 

As  late  as  about  1863,  it  was  their  boast  that 
no  American  blood  had  ever  been  shed  on  their 
soil;  and  when  this  did  occur,  by  the  hand  of 
an  Indian  of  another  tribe,  it  made  them  very 
sad. 

A  part  of  the  Cayuses  also  aided  our  troops. 
The  battle  of  Walla  Walla  was  fought  in  their 
country,  and  for  a  long  period  the  Oregon  vol 
unteers  were  in  that  region;  and  during  that 
time,  says  Col.  T.  R.  Cornelius,  who  was  then 
commanding  the  regiment,  and  afterwards 
President  of  the  Oregon  Senate,  old  Istikus,  a 
Cayuse  chief,  who  was  always  friendly  to  Dr. 
Whitman,  with  his  band,  rendered  us  valuable 
assistance.  He  furnished  us  scouts,  which  were 
of  great  use  to  us,  and  often  also  furnished  us 
with  provisions  when  we  most  needed  them. 

The  Nez  Perces  also  remained  friendly.  At 
one  time,  says  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding,  a  great 
feast  was  made,  and  37  oxen  were  killed  by  the 
hostiles,  to  which  the  Nez  Perces  were  invited, 
so  as  to  induce  them  to  break  with  the  Amer 
icans  and  join  the  enemy;  but  they  refused,  fur- 


238  History  of  Indian  Missions 

nished  some  provisions  and  cattle  to  our  army, 
an  express  to  go  where  no  white  man  could 
live,  and  at  one  time  remounted  our  army  when 
its  horses  had  given  out. 

The  hostile  Indians  sent  word  to  the  Nez 
Perces,  "Join  us  in  the  war  against  the  whites 
or  we  will  wipe  you  out."  They  also  said:  "We 
have  made  the  whites  run  out  of  the  country, 
and  now  we  will  make  the  friendly  Indians 
do  the  same."  Yet  the  Nez  Perces  remained 
friendly. 

Col.  Cornelius  further  states  that  if  the  Nez 
Perces,  on  the  other  hand,  had  joined  the  hos- 
tiles,  if  the  American  settlements  had  not  been 
cut  off  they  would  have  been  involved  in  a  most 
disastrous  and  expensive  war. 

When  the  war  first  began  they  flew  to  the 
rescue  of  Gov.  I.  I.  Stevens  and  party,  who 
were  in  danger  of  being  cut  off,  and  helped  to 
take  them  to  a  place  of  safety. 

The  Oregon  and  Washington  volunteers 
withdrew  from  the  field  in  1856,  the  war  being 
almost  closed;  yet  for  some  time  afterwards 
there  were  Indian  troubles  in  the  region  and 
regular  soldiers  were  kept  in  the  field.  In  May, 
1858,  a  combination  of  Palouse,  Spokane,  Pend 
O'Reille,  and  Cceur  D'Alene  Indians  surprised 
and  badly  whipped  the  command  of  Colonel 
Steptoe,  in  Eastern  Washington.  One-fourth 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  239 

of  his  command  was  killed  or  wounded,  he  was 
surrounded,  his  water  and  retreat  were  cut  off, 
and  his  ammunition  gone  at  sundown.  The 
enemy,  waiting  for  the  morning  to  scalp  the 
last  American,  spent  a  portion  of  the  night  in 
a  war  dance  and  uproar  around  their  fires. 

It  was  then  that  Timothy,  the  Nez  Perces 
preacher,  and  two  brothers  who  were  fighting 
with  the  Americans,  discovered  an  unguarded 
opening  in  the  rocks.  He  said  to  Colonel  Step- 
toe,  "  You  are  surrounded.  Here  is  one  way 
of  retreat  by  leaving  your  heavy  baggage,  or  if 
you  choose  to  fight  we  will  stand  by  you  and 
die  with  you."  The  Colonel  chose  to  retreat, 
and  Timothy  guided  him  and  the  remnant  of 
his  troops,  amid  the  darkness  of  the  night, 
past  the  noise  of  the  enemy,  with  the  stillness 
of  death,  on  to  his  own  country  and  furnished 
them  with  food.  The  little  company,  "  after  a 
ride  of  90  miles,  mostly  at  a  gallop,  reached 
Snake  River,"  where  others  of  this  friendly 
tribe  "received  them  with  open  arms,  suc- 
/  cored  the  wounded  men,  and  crossed  in  safety 
the  whole  command  over  the  difficult  and 
dangerous  river." 

The  officer  in  command  of  the  Nez  Perce 
band  wrote  as  follows: 

"  Allow  me,  while  this  general  war  is  going 
on,  to  point  you  at  least  to  a  few  green  spots 


240  History  of  Indian  Missions 

where  the  ravages  of  war  do  not  as  yet  extend, 
and  which  thus  far  are  untainted,  with  a  view 
of  so  retaining  them  that  we  may  hereafter 
point  to  them  as  oases  in  this  desert  of  war. 
These  green  spots  are  the  Nez  Perces,  the  Flat 
Heads,  and  Pend  d'Oreilles.  Before  leaving 
Walla  Walla,  Colonel  Wright  assembled  the 
Nez  Perce  people,  told  them  his  object  was  to 
war  with  and  punish  our  enemies;  but  as  this 
great  people  were  and  ever  had  been  our 
friends,  he  wanted  their  friendship  to  be  as  en 
during  as  the  mountains  around  which  they 
lived;  and  in  order  that  no  difference  of  views 
or  difficulty  might  arise,  that  their  mutual 
promises  should  be  recorded." 

Consequently  he  then  made  a  treaty  of 
friendship  with  them,  and  thirty  of  them  ac 
companied  him  against  the  enemy.  When  he 
asked  them  what  they  wanted,  they  replied: 
"  Peace,  ploughs,  and  schools."* 

It  was,  therefore,  not  strange,  as  General 
Benjamin  Alvord  wrote  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  G. 
H.  Atkinson,  D.D.,  that  Colonel  Steptoe  "often 
descanted  on  the  manly  traits  and  Christian 
perseverance  of  Timothy,  a  Nez  Perce  chief, 
and  many  of  the  Nez  Perces."  And  the  Gen 
eral  also  added:  "Accounts  concur  as  to  the 
remarkable  preservation  by  the  Nez  Perces  of 

*  Century  of  Dishonor,  pp.  115,  116. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  241 

the  habits  derived  from  the  missionaries  a  dozen 
years  ago." 

The  aid  of  this  latter  tribe  was  afterwards 
recognized  by  Government,  and  for  it  they  re 
ceived  $4,665;  and,  in  addition,  a  house  was 
built  for  Timothy  for  his  services. 

III.  The  Nez  Perces  Mining  Trouble.— The 
first  treaty  was  made  with  the  Nez  Perces  in 
1 855,  but  it  was  not  ratified  until  1859.  The  next 
year  the  gold  mines  of  Orofino  were  discovered 
on  their  reservation,  and  the  following  year 
those  of  Florence  and  other  places  in  Western 
Idaho,  to  the  east  of  the  reservation;  but  to 
reach  the  latter  the  miners  were  obliged  to 
travel  across  the  reservation;  and  men  did  rush 
on  to  it  and  across  it  very  much  as  if  it  had  not 
been  set  apart  for  the  Indians.  In  order  to 
avoid  a  conflict,  a  new  treaty  was  made  in 
April,  1 86 1  (which,  however,  was  never  rati 
fied),  by  which  that  part  of  the  reservation 
lying  north  of  Snake  and  Clearwater  Rivers, 
the  south  Fork  of  the  Clearwater,  and  the 
trail  from  the  south  Fork,  by  the  Weipo  root 
ground,  across  the  Bitter-root  Mountains,  was 
opened  to  the  whites  in  common  with  the  In 
dians  for  mining  purposes.  As  long  as  the 
United  States  did  not  ratify  it,  it  did  not  be 
come  binding  on  the  Indians,  and  even  if  it  had 
been,  only  a  part  of  the  reservation  was  opened, 


242  History  of  Indian  Missions 

and  that  only  for  mining  purposes.  Yet,  in  de 
fiance  of  law,  and  against  the  protestations  of 
the  Indian  Agent,  the  town  of  Lewiston  was 
laid  out  in  1861,  on  the  reservation,  and  on  that 
part  of  it  which  had  not  been  thus  opened. 
This  town  soon  grew  to  be  a  place  of  twelve 
hundred  people,  and  the  first  capital  of  Idaho; 
and  the  anomaly  was  seen  of  the  Legislature 
of  a  Territory  sitting  on  an  Indian  reservation, 
and  even  making  laws,  some  of  which  were  con 
trary  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  in  re 
gard  to  intercourse  with  Indians. 

By  the  spring  of  1863  it  was  evident  that  a 
new  treaty  was  needed,  whereby  the  reserva 
tion  should  be  curtailed,  if  possible,  and  this 
was  made  in  June  of  that  year,  but  it  was  not 
ratified  by  the  United  States  until  1867.  Law 
yer,  the  head  chief,  and  fifty  other  sub-chiefs 
and  head  men  agreed  to  it,  but  others  did  not, 
among  whom  were  Joseph,  White  Bird,  and 
Looking  Glass,  who  lived  on  the  part  surren 
dered  to  the  United  States ;  and  this  was  the 
1  main  cause  of  the  war  with  Joseph  in  1877. 

The  tribe  was  thus  in  1863  divided  into  the 
treaty  and  non-treaty  Indians,  and  as  Govern 
ment  failed  either  to  ratify  this  treaty  or  even 
to  pay  all  the  money  due  under  the  first  treaty, 
the  division  between  the  two  parties  grew 
wider  and  wider,  and  the  non-treaty  party 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  243 

grew  constantly  stronger,  while  the  other  side 
grew  weaker.  To  add  to  the  difficulty,  the 
miners  and  others,  of  whom  three  or  four  thou 
sand  were  on  the  reservation,  carried  a  large 
amount  of  whisky  with  them,  a  considerable 
part  of  which  was  furnished  to  the  Indians, 
enough  at  times  to  occasion  serious  trouble, 
had  there  been  no  other  cause.  Laws,  too, 
were  enacted  by  the  Legislature  of  Idaho,  and 
put  in  operation,  in  direct  violation  of  the  inter 
course  act  of  1834,  under  which  charters  for 
bridges  and  ferries  were  granted,  and  roads 
laid  off. 

By  1866  nothing  had  been  paid  under  the 
treaty  of  1863,  as  it  had  not  been  ratified, 
while  four  installments  of  annuities,  of  ten 
thousand  dollars  each  under  the  first  treaty; 
four  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-five  dol 
lars  for  horses  and  other  material  furnished 
during  the  Yakama  War,  about  ten  years  pre 
vious  ;  eleven  hundred  and  eighty-five  dollars 
and  fifty  cents  for  work  done  for  Government, 
and  Lawyer's  salary  for  nine  months,  ending 
July,  1864,  amounting  to  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  dollars,  $46,125.50  in  all,  were  all 
unpaid.  These  causes  strengthened  the  non- 
treaty  party  and  made  them  more  hostile,  for 
promises  were  nearly  all  they  received  from 
Government,  and  these,  unfulfilled,  soon  grew 
to  be  almost  worthless. 


244  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Lawyer,  notwithstanding,  stood  firm  for  the 
whites  until  June,  1867,  more  than  six  years 
after  the  miners  had  entered  his  reservation, 
and  four  years  after  the  last  treaty  had  been 
made.  But  by  that  time  he  seemed  to  tire  of 
waiting,  and  at  a  council  held  that  month  he 
boldly  demanded  that  justice  be  done  ;  and 
such  was  the  feeling  of  the  tribe  that  if  he  had 
not  done  so,  wrote  the  Agent,  J.  O'Neill,  "  he 
would  not  have  lived  forty-eight  hours.  I 
know  this  to  be  true,"  he  added;  "  I  know  that 
some  of  his  people  would  have  killed  him.  As 
Little  Dog,  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Blackfeet, 
was  killed  for  his  friendship  to  the  whites,  so 
Lawyer  would  have  been  sacrificed." 

News  of  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  how 
ever,  reached  them  soon  after  this;  the  prom 
ises  made  soon  began  to  be  fulfilled,  and  trou 
ble  was  averted.  Had  war  once  begun,  accord 
ing  to  the  opinion  of  Hon.  D.  W.  Ballard, 
Governor  and  Superintendent  of  Indian  Af 
fairs  for  Idaho  at  that  time,  all  over  the  Terri 
tory  and  around  its  boundaries  would  have 
blazed  the  signal  fires  and  gleamed  the  toma 
hawk  of  the  savages.  Kootenays,  Pend  O'- 
Reilles,  Cceur-D'Alenes,  Blackfeet,  Flatheads, 
Spokanes,  Palouses,  Bannocks  and  Shoshones 
would  have  been  involved. 

It  was  such  difficulties  as  these  that  were  a 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  245 

prominent  cause  of  the  war  with  Sitting  Bull 
and  the  Sioux  in  1876,  when  the  lamented 
General  Custerfell;  and  why  was  a  war  pre 
vented  at  this  time  ?  The  answer  is,  mainly  by 
the  efforts  of  Lawyer.  Who  was  he  ?  He  was 
one  of  the  first  to  attend  school  when  opened 
by  Rev.  H.  H.  Spalding  in  1837,  and  he  is  said 
to  have  learned  to  read  better  than  any  other 
Indian.  He  was  the  teacher  of  Rev.  A.  B. 
Smith  in  the  native  language  in  1839.  He  was 
appointed  chief  in  1855,  and  so  remained  until 
1872,  and  was  again  chosen  in  1874  for  one 
year.  In  1871  he  made  a  profession  of  religion, 
and  ever  afterwards  maintained  a  consistent 
Christian  character.  He  was  chosen  a  ruling 
elder  in  the  Presbyterian  church,  and  in  1875 
retired  to  his  home  at  Kamiah,  where  he  spent 
most  of  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  visiting 
among  the  Indians  and  exhorting  them  to  aban 
don  their  heathen  practices,  and  embrace  a 
Christian  life.  He  died  a  year  or  two  later, 
aged  about  eighty  years,  having  been  eight  or 
nine  years  old  when  Lewis  and  Clarke  came 
to  the  country. 

In  addition  to  this  evidence  of  the  benefit  of 
mission  work  during  this  troublous  period, 
the  following  testimony  is  of  value:  Says  J. 
W.  Anderson,  Indian  Agent  for  the  Nez  Pci  - 
ces  about  1862:  "Although  Mr.  Spalding  had 


246  History  of  Indian  Missions 

been  absent  from  the  tribe  many  years,  yet 
they  retained  all  the  forms  of  worship  which 
he  had  taught  them.  Many  of  them  have 
prayers  night  and  morning  in  their  lodges. 
In  my  opinion,  Mr.  Spalding  by  his  own  per 
sonal  labors  has  accomplished  more  good  in 
this  tribe  than  all  the  money  expended  by 
Government  has  been  able  to  effect." 

The  Golden  Age,  of  November  i6th,  1874, 
published  at  Lewiston,  Idaho,  also  says : 
"  Through  the  self-abnegating  labors  of  this 
good  old  man  (Mr.  Spalding)  these  aborigines, 
we  feel  safe  in  saying,  have  been  benefited 
more  than  by  all  the  thousands  of  outlay  by 
Government." 

And  Rev.  C.  Eells  wrote  in  May,  1866,  to  the 
Missionary  Herald:  "  The  Nez  Perces  are  a 
large  and  powerful  tribe.  They  have  been  ill- 
treated  and  grievously  wronged  by  Americans, 
and,  had  they  at  any  one  of  several  critical  pe 
riods  combined  against  the  whites,  they  might 
have  caused  incalculable  injury.  Under  such 
circumstances  I  know  not  how  to  account  for 
their  marked  patience  and  continued  friend 
ship,  but  by  attributing  both  to  the  influence 
of  the  Gospel." 

IV.  The  War  with  the  Snake  Indians. — This 
\vai  waged  mainly  in  Southern  Idaho.  It  is 
hardly  known  when  it  began,  but  probably 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  247 

some  time  between  1850  and  1860,  and  for  a 
long  time  consisted  mainly  of  skirmishes  be 
tween  emigrants  and  Indians.  When  the  mines 
of  Southern  Idaho  were  opened  in  1862,  the 
trouble  increased,  and  one  company  at  least  of 
miners  was  raised  to  settle  the  difficulty.  Al 
though  something  was  thus  done,  yet  the  trou 
bles  did  not  remain  settled,  so  that,  after  the 
close  of  the  civil  war  in  1866,  General  George 
Crook  was  sent  out  to  take  matters  in  hand. 
He  soon  found  that  his  regular  soldiers  could 
not  successfully  cope  with  the  Indians,  and  de 
termining  to  fight  fire  with  fire,  called  for  Indi 
an  scouts  from  the  Umatilla  and  Warm  Springs 
reservations.  Most  of  these  came  from  the 
latter  reserve,  where  Captain  John  Smith  had, 
a  few  months  previously,  taken  charge.  With 
his  aid  about  one  hundred  of  them  were  enlist 
ed,  dressed  in  United  States  uniform,  and  sent 
to  the  front  in  charge  of  Dr.  William  McKay, 
an  educated  half-breed,  while  his  brother, 
Donald  McKay,  had  charge  of  those  from  the 
Umatilla.  The  Snake  Indians  ha<i  learned  how 
to  manage  the  regular  soldiers  quite  easily  ; 
but  when  they  saw  the  blue-coats  dismount 
from  their  horses  and  fight  in  true  Indian  style, 
they  were  surprised  ;  when  they  were  pursued 
into  their  mountain  fastnesses  they  grew  des 
perate  ;  and  when  General  Crook,  advised  by 


243  History  of  Indian  Missions 

the  McKay  brothers,  was  wise  enough  to  fol 
low  up  his  success  with  a  winter  campaign, 
they  surrendered. 

According  to  the  report  of  Hon.  J.  W.  P. 
„  Huntington,  the  Superintendent  of  Indian 
Affairs  for  Oregon  for  that  time,  these  Indians 
fought  in  five  battles,  in  only  one  of  which 
they  were  supported  by  the  regular  soldiers, 
killed  seventy-eight  of  the  enemy,  and  also  as 
sisted  in  other  engagements. 

It  is,  doubtless,  too  much  to  say  that  all  this 
aid  was  secured  because  of  the  Christian  instruc 
tion  which  these  Indians  from  the  Warm 
Springs  reservation  had  received  from  Captain 
Smith,  for  he  had  been  appointed  as  their 
Agent  only  a  few  months  previous  to  their  en 
listment.  The  Warm  Springs  Indians  had  often 
been  plundered,  and  some  of  them  had  been 
taken  captive  and  killed  by  the  Snakes,  hence 
they  were  fighting  partly  for  themselves  ;  yet 
it  is  probably  just  as  true  that,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  Captain  Smith's  help  in  the  matter, 
these  Indian  scouts  could  not  have  been  ob 
tained,  as  the  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs 
was  strongly  opposed  to  their  enlistment. 

V.  The  Modoc  War. — This  was  carried  on  in 
Southern  Oregon  in  the  celebrated  lava  beds, 
and  fairly  began  November  3Oth,  1872,  between 
thirty-five  regular  soldiers  and  twenty-five  vol- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  249 

unteers  on  one  side,  and  twenty-eight  Modoc 
men  aided  by  their  women  and  children  on  the 
other.  Ten  whites  were  killed  and  live  wounded, 
while  the  Indians  lost  one  man,  one  woman, 
and  one  infant,  and  finally  obtained  possession 
of  the  field.  This  was  followed  in  January, 
1873,  by  a  battle  between  four  hundred  regular 
soldiers  and  volunteers  and  fifty-three  Modocs, 
which  lasted  ten  hours,  and  in  which  not  an 
Indian  was  killed,  while  thirty-five  soldiers  lost 
their  lives,  and  the  rest  retreated.  Such  a  de 
feat  set  the  authorities  at  Washington  think 
ing,  and  they  resolved  to  try  the  peace  com 
mission,  which  failed  by  the  sad  massacre  of 
General  Canby  and  Doctor  Thomas,  on  Friday, 
April  nth,  1873,  and  war  to  the  bitter  end  was 
determined  upon. 

About  a  thousand  soldiers  were  then  gath 
ered  around  those  lava  beds,  but  they  were 
hardly  ready  for  the  fight.  Why  ?  They 
were  waiting  for  the  scouts  from  the  Warm 
Springs  reservation.  General  Canby  had  tele 
graphed  to  their  agent,  Captain  Smith,  for 
them  before  his  death,  and  in  six  hours  after 
the  request  was  received  at  the  agency,  they 
were  enlisted  and  ready  to  move.  So  depend 
ent  was  General  Canby  on  them  that  he  had 
determined,  in  case  of  his  failure  to  make  peace, 
not  to  begin  fighting  until  they  should  arrive, 


250  History  of  Indian  Missions 

and  immediately  after  his  death  General  Gil- 
liam  would  not  follow  the  Modocs  to  their 
den  because  these  scouts  were  not  there,  nor 
did  he  dare  to  do  it  until  after  they  came. 
They  arrived  the  next  day  after  the  massacre, 
seventy-two  in  number.  The  tribe  had  been 
compelled  to  take  their  reservation  at  Warm 
Springs,  unfit  as  it  was  and  is  for  farming,  and 
give  up  the  Tygh  valley,  which  they  wished, 
because  of  the  presence  of  soldiers  when  the 
treaty  was  made.  Afterwards  they  were  cheated 
out  of  their  fishery  at  the  Dalles;  but  ready  still 
to  show  their  loyalty  to  the  Government,  they 
went  to  the  Modoc  War,  under  Donald  McKay, 
with  the  prayers  of  their  Agent,  with  whom 
they  had  regularly  joined  in  worship  on  the 
Sabbath  for  several  years. 

Monday  morning  after  the  massacre  dawned, 
and  amidst  the  noise  and  din  of  camp  life  a 
strange  sound  was  heard.  What  was  it  ? 
Those  scouts,  born  in  the  wild  camps  of  East 
ern  Oregon,  were  joining  in  praise  to  God,  and 
uniting  in  prayer  for  his  protection  ;  a  thing, 
according  to  Hon.  A.  B.  Meacham,  not  one 
of  the  five  hundred  white  men  had  the  courage 
to  do.  And  God  heard  their  prayers,  all  but 
two  of  them  coming  out  of  the  battle  alive. 
J.  L.  M'Creery,  in  the  Council  Fire,  for  1881,  has 
versified  this  incident  in  the  following  language: 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  251 

BEFORE      THE      LAVA      BEDS, 

MONDAY  NIGHT,  APRIL  14,  1873. 

"  Midnight  reigns,  and  darkness  hovers 

O'er  a  martial  garrison, 
Which  our  nation's  ensign  covers, 

In  the  wilds  of  Oregon ; 
But  the  foe,  that  flag  defying — 

Savage  Modocs  now  at  bay — 
In  the  lava  beds  are  lying, 

Waiting  for  the  dawn  of  day. 

"  Near  the  white  men,  camped  beside  them, 

Are  their  native  red  allies, 
Come  to  fight  for  them  or  guide  them, 

Or  to  guard  them  from  surprise. 
White  and  red  are  brave  and  daring, 

And,  amid  the  starless  gloom, 
White  and  red  are  both  preparing 

For  the  fray  that  is  to  come. 

"  Well  they  know  that  of  their  number 

Some  must  soon  confront  their  God — 
This  to  be  their  final  slumber 

Till  they  sleep  beneath  the  sod. 
Yet  in  what  a  varied  manner 

Those  who  wait  the  coming  fight, 
Sheltered  by  that  starry  banner, 

Spend  this  dark  and  awful  night ! 

"Hark,  the  sound  of  many  voices 

From  the  white  men's  camping  ground, 
And  the  wild  discordant  noises 

As  the  festive  cup  goes  round ; 
Voices  maudlin  and  unsteady, 

Raise  the  bacchanalian  cry- 
'  Here  is  to  the  dead  already 

And  to  him  who  next  shall  die  ! ' 


252  History  of  Indian  Missions 

"  There  are  other  echoes  floating 

On  the  midnight  breeze  afar — 
Vague,  familiar  sounds,  denoting 

Where  the  Warm  Spring  Indians  are; 
'Tis  the  voice  of  prayer  ascending 

From  their  camp  upon  the  knoll, 
With  the  simple  music  blending — 

*  Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul. ' 

"  Hear  the  whites  in  drunken  revels, 

Frenzy-fired  and  reckless  men — 
'  Death  to  yonder  savage  devils  ! ' 

'  Fill  the  flowing  bowl  again  ! ' 
See  the  Indian  warriors  kneeling, 

Listen  to  their  humble  plea, 
And  their  hymn  to  Heaven  appealing, 

*  Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me  ! ' 

"  On  the  morrow  came  the  battle; 

Slaughtered  in  the  Modoc  snare, 
White  and  red  men  fell  like  cattle, 

Leaving  half  their  number  there. 
O  self-righteous,  proud  Caucasian, 

Look  upon  them  side  by  side — 
Tell  me  which  in  nobler  fashion, 

White  or  red  man,  lived  and  died  !" 

We  have  not  space  to  follow  them  through 
all  the  battles  of  the  war,  but  will  note  a  few,  to 
show  how  useful  they  were  to  our  soldiers  and 
the  necessity  of  their  aid.  Fourteen  Modocs 
started  for  water;  a  company  of  soldiers  was 
sent  to  capture  them,  but  the  Modocs  killed 
three  of  the  soldiers  and  drove  the  rest  back  to 
camp.  The  command  was  given  to  shell  them, 
but  they  dodged  behind  the  rocks  until  the  sol- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  253 

diers,  tired  of  that  mode  of  fighting,  ceased, 
when  the  Modocs  came  out  from  behind  the 
rocks,  organized  a  mock  battery,  fired  their 
guns  into  camp,  insulted  all  the  soldiers,  and  re 
tired  without  losing  a  man.  "  Where  are  the 
Warm  Springs  scouts  all  this  time  ?  "  asked  one. 
They  had  been  sent  off  to  the  other  side  of  the 
lava  beds  to  keep  the  enemy  from  escaping, 
and  so  could  take  no  part  in  this  encounter. 

The  Modocs  were  afterwards  starved  out  of 
their  stronghold,  and  took  refuge  in  a  new 
place  in  the  lava  beds.  Their  whereabouts 
were  discovered  by  the  Indian  scouts,  and  a 
reconnoissance  was  ordered  April  26th.  Four 
teen  scouts  were  sent  in  one  direction  and  66 
soldiers  in  another,  who  were  ordered  by  no 
means  to  bring  on  an  engagement ;  but  they 
were  too  careless,  fell  into  a  Modoc  trap,  and 
only  23  out  of  the  66  returned  to  camp,  the 
Indian  scouts  having  hurried  to  the  scene  in 
time  to  prevent  the  entire  annihilation  of  the 
party,  while  not  one  of  the  24  Modocs  engaged 
was  injured. 

The  enemy  subsequently  left  the  lava  beds, 
and  were  pursued  by  the  companies  of  Captain 
Hasbrouck  and  Jackson,  with  the  Indian 
scouts.  While  thus  pursuing,  the  soldiers 
were  surprised  by  an  attack  from  the  Modocs 
near  Sorass  Lake,  May  loth,  but  the  Warm 


254  History  of  Indian  Missions 

Springs  Indians  turned  up  at  just  the  .right 
time  to  save  our  soldiers  from  defeat  and  from 
massacre,  according  to  their  Agent,  and  turned 
the  surprise  into  a  victory — the  first  real  vic 
tory  of  the  war.  In  this  battle  the  scouts  lost 
two  of  their  number. 

Thus  they  served  during  the  whole  cam 
paign.  Says  Captain  Smith,  "  Their  services 
cannot  be  exaggerated.  They  were  the  cap 
tors  of  the  lava  beds,  and,  in  fact,  did  all  the 
successful  fighting  that  was  done,  and  never 
forgot  their  duty  as  Christians  during  the  whole 
time."  Yet  only  two  of  them  were  killed  and 
two  wounded,  while  not  far  from  a  hundred 
white  soldiers  lay  down  to  rise  no  more.  When 
the  war  was  ended  they  returned  to  their 
homes,  and  settled  down  to  a  peaceful  life  as 
quietly  as  if  there  had  been  no  war. 

VI.  The  War  with  Joseph's  Band  of  the  Nez 
Perces. — The  main  cause  of  this  has  been  hint 
ed  at  in  the  third  section  of  this  chapter  in  re 
gard  to  the  Nez  Perces  mining  trouble.  The 
first  treaty  was  made  with  the  tribe  in  1855. 
By  the  treaty  of  1863  the  reservation  was  cur 
tailed,  and  among  the  portions  surrendered 
was  the  Wallowa  Valley,  in  Oregon,  the  home 
of  Joseph.  While  the  head  chief  and  many 
sub-chiefs  and  head  men  agreed  to  the  treaty, 
Joseph  and  those  living  in  the  valley  did  not. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  255 

In  1873,  by  an  executive  order  of  the  President, 
a  reserve  was  made  for  them  in  the  valley,  but 
in  1875,  by  the  same  authority,  it  was  restored 
to  the  public  domain.  In  1877  an  attempt  was 
made  to  remove  the  band  to  the  remaining 
portion  of  the  Nez  Perces  reservation,  and  the 
result  was  a  war,  which  began  with  a  massacre, 
June  1 3th  of  the  same  year,  at  White  Bird 
Creek,  in  Western  Idaho,  near  the  reservation, 
and  continued  in  that  region  until  the  last  of 
July,  when  the  Indians  fled  into  Montana, 
where  they  were  captured  by  Generals  Miles 
and  Howard,  October  5th,  and  afterwards 
taken  to  the  Indian  Territory. 

During  this  war  the  effects  of  Christianity  on 
the  tribe  were  very  marked.  Those  acquainted 
with  Indians  have  learned  that  their  bond  of 
relationship  is  quite  strong,  and  that  it  is  espe 
cially  so  in  any  difficulty  with  the  whites.  But 
in  this  war  not  only  was  the  tribe  divided,  but, 
strange  to  say,  family  ties  were  sundered, 
while  the  dividing  line  was  Christianity.  If  this 
•  had  done  nothing  more  than  to  keep  five-sixths 
of  the  tribe  out  of  the  war,  the  fruits  would 
have  been  very  great.  Those  who  engaged  in 
hostilities  were  those  who  steadily  refused  to 
come  under  Christian  teaching,  while  not  a 
Protestant  Christian  Indian  was  found  among 
the  hostiles. 


256          History  of  Indian  Missions 

Besides  this,  the  friendly  portion  of  the  tribe 
furnished  valuable  aid  to  us  from  the  beginning 
of  the  war  to  the  time  when  it  was  transferred 
to  Montana.  A  small  company  of  scouts  aided 
in  the  first  battle,  June  i/th,  in  a  canyon  of 
White  Bird  Creek,  when  two  of  them  were 
captured,  but  they  afterwards  escaped.  About 
the  1st  of  July,  when  General  Howard  left  Lap- 
wai  in  person,  with  three  hundred  soldiers,  the 
friendly  Nez  Perces,  at  his  request,  furnished 
him  with  sixty  horses  to  mount  his  officers. 
James  Reuben  was  one  of  the  most  prominent 
of  the  scouts.  He,  Old  Levi,  Noah,  James 
Conner,  John  Levi  and  Jacob  carried  most  of 
the  dispatches:  sometimes  by  night,  in  the  rain, 
swimming  their  horses  in  the  dark,  cold  and 
wet;  or,  discovered  by  the  hostiles,  escaping  to 
warn  both  settlers  and  soldiers ;  or  engaging 
in  the  battles,  in  one  of  which  one  of  them  fired 
twenty-five  rounds  against  members  of  his  own 
tribe. 

When  the  enemy  escaped  from  the  region 
and  started  for  Montana  by  the  Lolo  trail,  they 
were  soon  followed  by  the  cavalry  with  thirty 
Nez  Perces  scouts  under  James  Reuben,  all  be 
ing  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Mason.  This 
was  a  very  dangerous  road  for  an  ambush,  the 
trail  being  so  narrow  that  two  persons  could  not 
ride  abreast,  with  timber  so  thick  an  J  mountains 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  257 

so  steep  on  both  sides,  as  to  prevent  all  skir 
mishing.  The  scouts  knew  it,  so  that  they  said: 
"  Every  man  may  say  to  himself,  now  my  life 
is  ended  in  this  world,  for  I  will  soon  go  down 
into  the  grave."  Having  proceeded  about  six 
teen  miles,  they  were  moving  along  with  three 
scouts  ahead,  seven  more  a  short  distance  be 
hind,  and  the  rest  about  three  hundred  yards 
back  with  the  cavalry.  At  that  place  the  ene 
my  laid  an  ambuscade,  and  suddenly  surround 
ed  the  first  three,  disarmed  them,  took  their 
horses  away,  and  retired  into  the  woods  with 
their  captives,  without  noise,  ready  to  serve  the 
next  seven  in  the  same  manner,  and  then  sur 
prise  the  main  column.  The  seven,  being  off 
their  guard  because  of  the  three  ahead,  fell  into 
the  trap,  but  began  fighting,  broke  through  the 
enemy  and  reached  the  soldiers,  not,  however, 
until  John  Levi  had  been  killed,  Abraham  and 
James  Reuben  wounded,  the  latter  also  having 
eighteen  bullet  holes  through  his  clothes;  but 
our  troops  were  saved. 

Who  was  this  James  Reuben  ?  He  was  a 
nephew  of  Chief  Joseph,  the  leader  of  the  hos- 
tiles,  but  he  was  a  Christian.  He  had  studied 
under  Miss  McBeth  in  order  to  become  a  teach 
er.  Evidently  on  account  of  his  relationship 
with  Joseph,  he  was  suspected  by  some  whites 
of  being  a  spy  for  the  enemy,  and  on  one  occa- 


258  History  of  Indian  Missions 

sion,  while  carrying  an  express  from  General 
Howard  to  Lapwai,  he  narrowly  escaped  being 
shot  three  times  by  parties  of  white  men  on 
the  road.  At  another  time,  when  a  company 
of  soldiers  had  just  arrived  at  Lapwai,  and  were 
ready  to  go  to  the  front,  he  was  put  in  charge 
of  twenty  scouts  to  go  with  them.  Having 
reached  Mount  Idaho,  two  friendly  Indians 
from  Lapwai  overtook  him,  who  told  him  he 
must  not  go  any  further,  as  they  had  been  told 
that  all  the  white  men  were  against  him  now ; 
and  it  afterwards  proved  that  white  men  who 
were  with  the  command  were  waiting  to  see 
him  away  from  the  command  so  that  they 
might  dispatch  him  to  the  happy  hunting 
grounds.  His  men  advised  him  to  return,  and 
offered  to  guard  hi'*.!  if  he  would  do  so;  but  he 
told  them  not  to  go  back  but  to  go  on,  saying : 
"Why  should  I  flee  ?  I  have  done  nothing  of  the 
sort.  The  Word  of  God  says :  *  The  wicked 
flee  when  no  man  pursueth,  but  the  righteous 
are  bold  as  a  lion.'  God  is  my  strong  protec 
tion  and  shield  in  the  days  of  my  calamities.  If 
God  has  anything  against  me,  in  whom  I  live 
and  have  my  being,  He  will  do  as  it  please 
Him;  but  if  not,  why  should  I  fear  man  ?  I  will 
soon  set  these  white  men  aright — those  who  are 
suspicious  of  me — and  they  will  find  their  mis 
take."  He  did  so,  as  we  have  already  seen, 


On  the  Pacific  Coast,  259 

afterwards  shedding  his  blood  on  the  Lolo  trail 
in  defense  of  our  soldiers.  After  the  war  he 
went  as  a  missionary  to  Joseph  and  his  band 
when  they  had  been  taken  to  the  Indian  Ter 
ritory. 

While  the  war  was  going  on  the  Indians  at 
Kamiah,  about  sixty  miles  from  Lapwai,  under 
James  Lawyer,  head  chief,  guarded  the  gov 
ernment  property  there  ;  and  when  the  hostiles 
were  fighting  about  twenty-five  miles  from  that 
place,  he  formed  a  company  of  thirty-five  of  the 
native  Christians,  and  escorted  their  teacher, 
Miss  McBeth,  and  the  government  employees, 
with  their  families,  to  Lapwai.  "  This,"  as  it 
has  been  said,  "  they  did  at  the  risk  of  their 
own  lives,  as  they  well  knew;  but  the  love  of 
Christ  constrained  them."  The  same  Indians 
also  removed  many  articles  from  the  govern 
ment  buildings  at  Kamiah,  and  hid  them  in 
their  corn-fields,  fearing  that  the  enemy  might 
burn  or  plunder  the  houses.  These  articles 
were  afterwards  returned.  After  the  war  Miss 
McBeth  wrote:  "  Not  one  of  the  treaty  Indians 
joined  the  hostiles,  and  none  of  the  old  familiar 
faces  are  missing  from  their  places  here.  I  have 
more  trust  in  them  now  than  I  ever  had  before 
the  war." 

After  the  enemy  escaped  into  Montana,  two 
of  the  Nez  Perces  went  with  our  troops  as 


260  History  of  Indian  Missions 

scouts,  and  continued  with  them  until  the  end 
of  the  war,  October  7th,  in  Northern  Montana. 
Our  troops  during  that  time  marched  1,320 
miles  in  75  days.  These  scouts  traveled,  neces 
sarily,  very  much  farther,  and  are  highly  com 
plimented  by  General  Howard  for  their  faithful 
services. 

Government  so  recognized  the  services  of 
these  friendly  Indians,  that  in  May,  1878,  they 
received  over  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  sup 
plies,  horses  and  services  which  they  furnished 
during  the  war. 

Says  General  Howard,  the  commanding  offi 
cer  during  the  war,  "  What  glorious  results 
would  have  been  effected  could  these  non-treat 
ies  [the  hostiles]  have  received  the  same  direc 
tion  that  the  worthy  missionaries  were  in  early 
days  able  to  give  the  remainder  of  their 
tribe."* 

VII.  The  Bannack  War.— This  began  in 
Southern  Idaho  in  June,  1878,  when  the  Indians 
were  pursued  westward  into  Eastern  Oregon, 
destroying  much  property  during  their  raid. 
They  attempted  then  to  go  north  and  cross 
the  Columbia  River  into  Eastern  Washington, 
but  were  prevented,  a  decisive  battle  having 
been  fought  near  Pendleton,  and  at  last  they 
were  broken  into  small  bands  and  driven  back 

*  Chief  Joseph,  p.  274. 


On  t.J;e  Pacific  Coast.  2^1 

into  Idaho,  where  most  of  them  surrendered, 
and  the  war  was  closed  in  August. 

The  aid  received  by  our  soldiers  in  this  war 
from  Christian  work  among  the  Indians  was 
more  of  an  indirect,  preventive  kind,  than  of  di 
rect  service.  When  the  hostiles  reached  Ore 
gon,  strong  inducements  were  offered  to  the 
Umatilla  and  Yakama  Indians  to  join  them,  it 
being  stated,  on  good  authority,  that  at  one 
time  two  thousand  horses  were  offered  them  by 
the  hostiles  for  this  purpose. 

One  "  who  wishes  to  be  understood"  wrote  a 
letter,  in  August,  1878,  to  The  Oregonian,  in 
which  he  spoke  very  harshly  against  the  Chris 
tian  work  on  the  Yakama  reservation.  He 
said  :  "  We,  who  daily  come  in  contact  with 
the  Indians,  cannot  be  made  to  believe  that 
prayer-books,  praying  generals,  Methodist 
preachers  (or  any  other  preachers),  are  a  good 
safeguard  against  the  tomahawk  or  scalping 
knife.  We  believe  that  the  foolish  attempt  to 
christianize  diggers  annually  costs  too  many 
lives  and  too  much  treasure  to  be  persisted  in 
longer  ;  and  the  pseudo-philanthropists,  the 
Christian  mongers  of  the  east,  who  are  paying 
thousands  to  send  missionaries  among  these 
barbarians,  would  do  us  a  favor  if  they  would 
keep  them  away,  and  they  would  more  truly 
serve  God  by  giving  their  money  to  the  poor  of 


262  History  of  Indian  Missions 

the  great  cities.  And  if  the  United  States 
Government  would  be  less  influenced  in  its  con 
duct  towards  the  Indian  by  the  advocates  of 
Christianity,  our  wives  and  children  might  annu 
ally  be  spared  the  sight  of  murdered  husbands 
and  fathers  ;  our  farmers  would  not  yearly  be 
driven  from  their  fields  until  their  growing 
crops  again  go  back  into  the  ground  ;  our 
stockmen  would  not  every  summer  see  their 
fine  horses  and  cattle  stolen  and  slaughtered 
by  the  thousand,  for  then  we  could  rely  on  the 
strong  arm  of  the  settler,  aided  by  the  army, 
and  could  protect  ourselves.  We  have  reliable 
information  that  some  of  the  dead  Indians 
found  after  the  battles  near  Pendleton  had  on 
their  persons  passes  from  Wilbur."* 

Now  it  is  probably  a  fact  that  some  of  the 
Umatilla  Indians,  and  perhaps  some  of  the  Ya- 
kamas,  were  engaged  in  aiding  the  enemy. 
There  are  always  some  renegade  Indians  con 
nected  with  every  tribe  (as  well  as  some  rene 
gade  whites  and  tramps).  As  tribes,  however, 
they  did  not  engage  in  the  war,  and  compara 
tively  few  individuals  did. 

Why  was  this  ?  In  the  war  of  1855-6,  before 
Father  Wilbur  went  among  the  Yakamas,  they 
were  the  leading  spirits,  and  it  was  the  most 
wide-spread  war  that  has  ever  devastated  the 

*  Indian  Agent  on  the  Yakama  Reservation. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  263 

Pacific  coast.  To  say  nothing  of  any  ideas  of 
the  wickedness  of  such  a  course,  which  some  of 
them  may  have  received  from  the  Bible,  it  may 
be  said  in  reply  that  they  had  too  much  perma 
nent  property  in  homes  and  farms  to  allow 
them  to  engage  in  war,  for  they  knew  that,  if 
they  should  do  so,  they  would  in  the  end  cer 
tainly  lose  all.  This  is  undoubtedly  so;  and 
yet,  when  Father  Wilbur  went  among  them, 
they  had  none  of  this  kind  of  property,  but 
only  movable  property,  which  they  could  carry 
with  them,  as  the  Bannacks  did.  It  is  a  fact 
that  Christianity  gave  them  this  property. 

It  may  again  be  said  that  they  were  thoroughly 
whipped  in  1856,  and  were  afraid  to  engage  in 
war  again.  They  were  thus  conquered,  and  the 
remembrance  of  it  may  have  done  them  good, 
even  in  1878.  But  in  1867  General  Cook,  the 
noted  Indian  fighter,  just  a.s  thoroughly  conquer 
ed  the  Indians  in  Idaho,  in  precisely  the  same 
region  where  the  Bannack  war  began,  and  the 
praise  of  his  effectual  work  was  in  the  mouths 
of  the  citizens  there  for  years  afterwards.  This 
was  eleven  years  later  than  the  Yakama  war, 
and  so  much  fresher  in  the  minds  of  the  Indians. 
It  was  Christianity  that  made  the  Yakama  In 
dians  remember.  Bancroft 


Hence,   whichever    way    we    turn,    we    are 
obliged  to    say  that  Christianity  had  a  great 


264  History  of  Indian  Missions 

restraining  power  over  those  Indians,  and  thus, 
in  an  indirect  way,  gave  us  great  assistance. 

General  Sheridan  is  said  to  be  the  author  of 
the  statement  that  the  only  good  Indian  is  a 
dead  one,  and  he  has  also  said  that  to  make 
one  such  good  one  costs  about  twenty  thousand 
dollars,  and  the  lives  of  half  a  dozen  soldiers. 
Hon.  J.  W.  P.  Huntington,  Superintendent  of 
Indian  Affairs  for  Oregon  in  1867,  wrote  :  "  I 
am  painfully  conscious  that  extermination  will 
cost  the  lives  of  ten  whites  for  every  Indian,  and, 
besides,  cost  many  millions  of  money.  The  Gov 
ernment  would  probably  have  saved  many  dol 
lars  if  it  could,  fifteen  years  ago,  have  taken 
every  Snake  Indian  to  a  first-class  hotel,  and 
boarded  them  for  life  ;  it  is  also  said  every 
hostile  Indian  killed  in  the  Modoc  war  cost  the 
Government  about  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dol 
lars."  Such  statements  as  these,  taken  in  con 
nection  with  the  statements  made  of  the  assist 
ance  received  by  us  in  these  wars  from  the 
Christian  Indians,  prove  the  truth  of  the  remark 
made  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  that  if 
Government  had  paid  the  expenses  of  all  the 
missions  in  the  region,  the  money  would  have 
been  wisely  expended,  even  if  nothing  had  been 
accomplished,  except  to  give  us  the  aid  which 
we  have  received  in  the  Indian  wars,  from  the 
influence  of  Christianity  on  the  Indians. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  265 


CONCLUSION. 

THE  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Method 
ist  Missions  for  1848,  says  that  Mr.  Gary  thinks 
it  a  mistake  to  have  sent  so  many  secular  per 
sons  to  Oregon  in  connection  with  the  mission, 
because  of  the  expense,  and  because  the  settlers 
looked  on  it  as  a  money-making  concern. 

In  1863  the  American  Board  of  Commission 
ers  for  Foreign  Missions  published  an  octavo 
volume  of  four  hundred  and  sixty-four  pages, 
entitled,  Memorial  Volume  of  the  First  Fifty 
Years  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions.  Yet  in  all  that  work  all 
that  is  said  of  the  mission  in  Oregon  is  contain 
ed  in  the  following  sentence,  under  the  head  of 
"  Resultant  Literature  ":  "  Rev.  Samuel  Park 
er's  *  Exploring  Tour  beyond  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains,  made  under  the  Direction  of  the  Board 
in  1835,  1836  and  1837,'  brought  to  light  no 
field  for  a  great  and  successful  mission,  but  it 
added  much  to  the  science  of  geography,  and 
is  remarkable  as 'having  first  made  known  a 


266  History  of  Indian  Missions 

practicable  route  for  a  railroad  from  the  Missis 
sippi  to  the  Pacific." 

Thus  the  result  of  these  missions  appeared 
to  their  Missionary  Boards  then,  and  if  so  to 
them,  what  could  not  others  say  who  did  not 
believe  in  missions  ?  But  at  this  later  period 
let  these  discouraging  remarks  be  answered  by 
four  prominent  men  of  this  coast,  some  of  whom 
are  not  professing  Christians. 

Says  Hon.  W.  H.  Gray  with  reference  to  the 
trading  companies  a  generation  or  more  ago  : 
"  All  of  them,  including  the  North-west  and 
Hudson's  Bay  Companies,  have  retired  from  it; 
but  the  American  missionaries  are  residents  of 
the  country,  and  their  influence  and  labors  are 
felt,  notwithstanding  other  influences  have  par 
tially  supplanted  and  destroyed  the  good  im 
pressions  first  made  upon  the  natives  of  the 
country  by  them.  Still,  civilization,  education 
and  religion,  with  all  the  improvements  of  the 
age,  are  progressing,  and  the  old  pioneer  mis 
sionaries  and  settlers  that  were  cotemporary 
with  them,  with  a  few  exceptions,  are  foremost 
in  every  laudable  effort  to  benefit  the  rising 
generation." 

"  They  formed  the  nucleus  around  which  the 
American  pioneer,  with  his  family,  gathered, 
and  from  which  he  drew  his  encouragement 
and  protection  ;  and  a  part  of  these  mission- 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  267 

aries  were  the  leaders  and  sustainers  of  those 
influences  which  ultimately  secured  this  coun 
try  to  freedom  and  to  the  great  Republic." 

"  It  is  obvious  that  to  the  American  mission 
aries  our  nation  owes  an  honorable  record,  and 
their  names  ....  should  find  a  prominent  place 
in  the  catalogue  of  noble  men  and  women  who 
not  only  volunteered  to  civilize  and  christianize 
the  Indians,  but  did  actually  save  this  western 
golden  coast,  to  honor  and  enrich  the  great 
republic  in  the  time  of  her  greatest  peril."* 

Says  Hon.  H.  H.  Gilfry,  commissioned  by 
her  Governor  as  Oregon's  orator  at  the  centen 
nial  celebration  in  Philadelphia  in  1876  :  "  No 
regularly  organized  system  for  peopling  this 
Territory  was  entered  into  until  about  the  year 
1834,  when  zealous  Christians  in  the  Eastern 
States  turned  their  attention  to  the  West  as  a 
favorable  soil  for  planting  the  standard  of  the 
Cross,  and  for  religious  labor  among  the  Indi 
ans Yet  these  missionaries  cannot  proper 
ly  be  called  the  true  pioneers  of  settlements, 
as  they  did  not  go  west  to  attack  the  forests 
and  cultivate  the  soil  for  the  results  of  hus 
bandry,  but  their  going  opened  up  the  way  and 
attracted  the  pioneer  to  follow,  overcoming  the 
rigors  of  a  new  country,  and  planting  the  tree 

*  History  of  Oregon,  pp.  40,  66,  602. 


263  History  of  Indian  Missions 

of  liberty  at  the  farthest  outposts  of  the  bor 
der."* 

Says  Hon.  M.  P.  Deady,  Judge  of  the  United 
States  District  Court  for  Oregon  :  "  After  the 
lapse  of  years  we  can  readily  see  how  these 
simple  men  were  really  the  unconscious  instru 
ments  of  HIM  '  who  hath  made  the  round 
world/  and  ruleth  the  destiny  of  all  nations 
that  dwell  thereon.  Although  their  mission  to 
the  Indians  was  substantially  a  failure,  they 
were  of  great  benefit  to  the  country.  They 
wisely  settled  in  the  heart  of  the  great  Willa 
mette  valley,  and  formed  there  a  nucleus  and 
rallying  point  for  the  future  American  settle 
ment,  and  thereby  attracted  the  after-coming 
emigration  to  the  Goshen  of  the  Pacific.  From 
the  first,  lay  element  and  secular  spirit  was 
sufficiently  strong  among  them  to  cause  them 
to  take  root  in  the  country,  and  gradually  be 
come  a  permanent  colony,  rather  than  remain 
mere  sojourners  among  the  Indians.  Before 
long  they  began  to  build  and  plant,  as  men 
who  regarded  the  country  as  their  future  home. 
Comparatively  they  prospered  in  this  world's 
goods,  and  when  the  immigration  came  flowing 
into  the  country  from  the  west,  they  found  at 
the  '  Wallamet  Mission  '  practically  an  Ameri 
can  settlement,  whose  influence  and  example 

*  Centennial  Address,  p.  33. 


On  the  Pacific  Coast.  269 

were  favorable  to  order,  industry,  sobriety  and 
economy,  and  contributed  materially  to  the 
formation  of  a  moral,  industrious  and  law-abid 
ing  community  out  of  these  successive  waves 
of  unstratified  population. 

"  True  their  Indian  school  had  no  permanent 
effect  upon  the  aborigines  of  the  vicinage, 

"  '  His  soul  their  science  never  taught  to  stray 
Far  as  the  solar  walk  or  milky  way  ;' 

but  it  was  of  great  advantage  as  a  seat  of  learn 
ing  and  a  means  of  education  to  the  white 
youth  of  the  country.  '  As  the  shadow  of  a 
great  rock  in  a  weary  land,'  it  attracted  to  its 
vicinity  those  who  were  desirous  of  protecting 
themselves  as  far  as  possible  from  the  wither 
ing  atmosphere  of  an  ignorant  and  uncultivated 
community.  Around  it,  and  largely  on  ac 
count  of  it,  grew  up  the  town  of  Salem,  now 
the  wide-spreading  capital  of  the  State."* 

Says  Hon.  R.  P.  Boise,  for  many  years  one  of 
the  Judges  of  Oregon  :  "  History  will  record 
that  these  holy  men  were  the  nucleus  around 
which  had  been  formed  and  built  the  State  of 
Oregon.  They  builded  well,  for  they  laid  their 
foundation  on  that  rock  which  bears  up  and 
sustains  the  superstructure  of  the  civilization  of 

*  Address  before  the  Oregon  Pioneer  Association  in  1875, 
page  26. 


2/o  History  of  Indian  Missions 

the  last  eighteen  hundred  years.  And  fortu 
nate  indeed  is  it  that  such  men  were  here  in 
that  early  time — men  who  knew  the  wants  of  a 
Christian  community ;  men  who  were  learned 
in  the  sciences  and  literature,  as  well  as  theo 
logy?  and  knew  and  appreciated  the  "value 
of  labor  and  industry,  and  who  were  willing  to, 
and  did  build  with  their  own  hands;  men  who 
knew  how  to  plant  in  the  virgin  soil  the  seeds 
of  virtue  and  knowledge,  and  cultivate  them  as 
they  germinated  and  grew  into  churches, 
schools  and  colleges."* 

These  words  seem  to  be  a  fitting  answer  to 
the  statement  made  by  the  Missionary  Boards, 
and  to  the  feeling  which  some  Christians  even 
have  had,  that  Providence  made  a  mistake  in 
sending  missionaries  to  the  Indians,  but  show 
that  when  missionaries  offered  the  prayer, 
"  Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  it  was 
wisely  answered.  They  proved  the  wisdom  of 
Christ's  command  :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature." 

*  Address  before  the  Oregon  Pioneer  Association,  1876,  pages 
26,  27. 

THE  END. 


\0 


